Psychophysiological Differences in a Pilot When Controlling and Not Controlling a Commercial Jet Airliner

Abstract

We investigated a coefficient of variations in R-R intervals (CVRR) and the distribution of instantaneous heart rate of an airline pilot during flight when he was at the controls (PC) and not at the controls (PNC). The flight was divided into eight segments for analysis. The values of CVRR in six among eight segments were lower under the PNC than the PC condition. The heart rate distribution was higher under the PC than the PNC condition during takeoff. In contrast, it was higher under the PNC condition during the heading-change, descent and landing segments. These results indicate that when a pilot is not at the controls he needs a wider situational attentiveness in order to play such roles as the co-pilot's backup operator, than when he is at the controls.