Pilot Performance in Instrument-Based Tasks Under Acute Stress

INTRODUCTION: Pilots often experience acute stress during flights, potentially affecting flight safety. The effect of acute stress on instrument-based tasks remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the influence of acute stress on subjects’ performance in two crucial tasks: the attitude recovery task and the landing judgment task.

METHODS: A total of 91 student pilots were divided into a control group and a stress group. Both groups completed a square task, with the stress group exposed to high-intensity noise to induce acute stress. Subsequently, 42 subjects performed an attitude recovery task using two formats of the attitude indicator: moving horizon and moving aircraft. The remaining 49 subjects performed a landing judgment task with three complexity levels using a landing instrument. Heart rates, trait-state anxiety scores, response times, and accuracy of the tasks were analyzed.

RESULTS: Heart rates and state anxiety scores increased following stress induction. In the attitude task, the stress group responded faster than the control group in the moving-horizon format (467.55 ms vs. 491.45 ms) but had lower accuracy (98.65% vs. 99.73%). In the moving-aircraft format, response times (stress: 454.15 ms, control: 474.73 ms) and accuracy (stress: 98.55%, control: 99.38%) showed no significant differences between the two groups. In the low-complexity landing task, the stress group (1015.79 ms) responded faster than the control group (1168.17 ms).

DISCUSSION: The impact of acute stress on performance depends on task complexity and stress intensity. While stress impairs performance in complex tasks by increasing errors, it enhances performance in simpler tasks by accelerating responses without compromising accuracy.

Jiang H, Jiang H, Wang Q, Peng X, Wang Q, Zhu Q, Yang J. Pilot performance in instrument-based tasks under acute stress. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2025; 96(6):469–477.