In order to reduce human errors in the interaction with in safety critical assistance systems it is crucial to consequently include the characteristics of the human operator already in the early phases of the design process. In this paper we present a cognitive architecture for simulating man-machine interaction in the aeronautics and automotive domain. Though both domains have their own characteristics we think that it is possible to apply the same core architecture to support pilot as well driver centered design of assistance systems. This text shows how phenomena relevant in the automobile or aviation environment can be integrated in the same cognitive architecture.