Information overload in the cockpit

Aircraft cockpits have always been potential places for the occurrence of information overload. The situation has not always improved with automation, indeed, in many cases automation has made the situation worse. The root of the problem lies with man: “basic man” the information processor and “man the designer of systems”. Basic man has limited information processing capability while man the designer is often unaware of the this limitation and designs systems that produce many orders more bits of information than basic man the user can process. As technology advances there is the temptation to make full-use of it without considering its´ or mans´ limitations. Systems, like chains, should be designed to carry no more load than that safely carried by the weakest link. In a man-machine system this weak link is usually the man. The paper considers some causes and solutions to information overload in the cockpit