Plain English Meaning

Too much is happening at once. The pilot is taking in more sights, sounds, and demands than the brain can keep up with, so things start getting missed or handled poorly.

Full Definition

A condition in which a pilot receives more sensory input -- visual, auditory, tactile, and cognitive -- than they can effectively process, leading to degraded decision-making, slower reactions, missed information, and impaired situational awareness.

Context Anchor

Seen in human factors discussions, especially during busy cockpit situations such as takeoff, landing, abnormal events, heavy radio traffic, or flying in unfamiliar .