ABSTRACT
Using the double-exponential probability distribution function (DEPDF), one consider a situation when two pilots operate an aircraft in an ordinary (normal, routine) fashion that abruptly changes to an extraordinary (off-normal, hazardous) one when one of the pilots becomes, for one reason or another, incapacitated. Such a mishap is referred to as an accident. Because of the accident, the other pilot, pilot-in-charge (PIC), might have to cope with a higher mental workload (MWL). A fatal casualty will occur if both pilots become incapable of performing their duties. The MWL is directly affected by the challenges that a pilot faces, when he/she has to control the vehicle in a complex, heterogeneous, multitask, and often uncertain environment. Such an environment includes numerous different and interrelated concepts of situation awareness: spatial awareness for instrument displays; system awareness, and task awareness that has to do with the attention and task management.
