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Comprehensive Approach to Pilot Disorientation Countermeasures
Published in Michael A. Vidulich, Pamela S. Tsang, Improving Aviation Performance through Applying Engineering Psychology, 2019
In peacetime, the most life-threatening aeromedical problems, which the air force might encounter, are spatial disorientation (SD), G-induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC), and, to a lesser extent, hypoxia. Spatial disorientation, in general, is defined as the failure to perceive, or to perceive incorrectly, the position, motion, and attitude of the aircraft or oneself within a fixed frame of reference. On or near Earth, the fixed frame of reference is the veridical vertical and the Earth’s horizontal surface. Unlike G-LOC or hypoxia, SD occurs in less well-defined environments and it is influenced by physiological and perceptual limitations. Assessment of the role played by SD in any mishap may have to rely on circumstantial evidence and is always open to investigator and labelling bias. Mishap analysis often reveals multiple causal factors leading to the final event. New flight display technologies might also contribute to SD susceptibility. The complexity of SD in the flight environment demands a “wide-angle” holistic approach. Some suggestions on future investigation in SD research, training, and technological developments are provided in this chapter. Examples will be provided to demonstrate the necessity of a coordinated effort from operators, scientists, engineers, and research sponsors to lessen the impact of SD on flight safety.
Use of aviation simulation technologies in the Czech Air Force
Published in Vladimír. Socha, Lenka Hanáková, Andrej Lališ, New Trends in Civil Aviation, 2018
Spatial disorientation remains a major cause of aircraft accidents. The Gyro Integrated Physiological Trainer, Generation II shown in Figure 5, provides pilots with a hands-on, realistic, spatial disorientation training experience. During simulated flight, a pilot can experience a variety of real world disorienting illusions. Unlike simple disorientation demonstrators, a pilot in the GYRO-IPT-II has full closed loop control of the simulation before, during and after the illusion. This capability creates a fully interactive flight training environment where the pilot must maintain control of the simulator and fly through the illusion to a successful resolution during training. By blending high fidelity flight simulation with state-of-the-art motion cueing, the GYRO-IPT-II accurately reproduces the motion and visual conditions that cause pilots to mistake their aircraft position and motion with respect to the earth’s surface. This type of pilot error is called “Spatial Disorientation” (SD).
Aviation Physiology
Published in Monica Martinussen, David R. Hunter, Aviation Psychology and Human Factors, 2017
Monica Martinussen, David R. Hunter
Fortunately, such events are rare among air carriers; however, they are all too common among military and general aviation pilots. McGrath et al. (2002) reported that spatial disorientation accounted for 26% of total mishaps and 50% of fatalities for the U.S. Navy during 2001, and that those proportions are consistent with those of previous years and other services. Various studies of general aviation accidents over the past several decades have found that spatial disorientation was a common causal factor in fatal accidents. The percentages ranged from 16% during the period 1976–1992 (Kirkham et al. 1978) to 11% of fatal accidents during the period 1976–1991 (Collins and Dollar 1996). Some authors, however, have argued that the actual percentages are much larger. Gibb et al. (2011) conducted an extensive review of accident reports and spatial disorientation research and concluded that it contributes to nearly 33% of all mishaps with a fatality rate of almost 100%.
Attitude Indicator Design in Primary Flight Display: Revisiting an Old Issue With Current Technology
Published in The International Journal of Aerospace Psychology, 2018
Simon Müller, Vitalij Sadovitch, Dietrich Manzey
Flying an aircraft in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), for example, clouds or night skies, precludes the direct reference to the outside view, possibly contributing to an unrecognized spatial disorientation. Spatial disorientation can be defined as an “erroneous sense of one’s position and motion relative to the plane of the earth’s surface” (Gillingham & Previc, 1993, p. 77) and has been a constant contributing factor to a number of fatal aviation accidents (Comstock, Jones, & Pope, 2003; Gibb, Ercoline, & Scharff, 2011; Poisson & Miller, 2014; Roscoe, 2004). Especially untrained and beginner pilots who are not familiar with flying under IMC tend to experience difficulties maintaining proper spatial orientation, when unsuspectedly losing the natural horizon as visual reference (Roscoe, 2004). In IMC, pilots depend on the attitude indicator (AI) to assess the orientation of their aircraft. The AI is one among other instruments that offer ownship orientation information. It provides information on the aircraft’s pitch and bank angles in relation to the natural horizon and represents the central element of the primary flight display (PFD) in modern aircraft.
A Comparative Evaluation of Hypotheses to Explain the Black Hole Illusion
Published in The International Journal of Aerospace Psychology, 2020
F. Eric Robinson, Henry Williams, Dain Horning, Adam T. Biggs
The approach and landing phase of aviation accounts for 49% of all fatal accidents despite covering only 4% of total flight time (Boeing, 2016). These accidents are also three times more likely to occur at night than during daytime (Khatwa & Helmreich, 1998). The increased danger is likely attributable to the difficulty in making comparative judgments of glideslope under nighttime conditions (Murray, Allison, & Palmisano, 2009). One particular perceptual error involving glideslope – the black hole illusion (BHI) – is regularly cited as a leading cause of spatial disorientation (Sipes & Lessard, 2000), if not the leading cause of in-flight visual-spatial problems (Matthews, Previc, & Bunting, 2002).
Galvanic vestibular stimulation to counteract leans illusion: comparing step and ramped waveforms
Published in Ergonomics, 2023
Sungho Kim, May Jorella Lazaro, Yohan Kang
Leans illusion is a type of in-flight vestibular illusion that poses a significant threat to flight safety. Leans occurs when the otoliths and semicircular canals of the vestibular system fail to correctly identify roll accelerations, leading to a false perception of the angular displacement of the aircraft (Davis, Johnson, and Stepanek 2008). During this phenomenon, after a gradual and prolonged turn, the pilots feel that the aircraft is at a horizontal position even if the aircraft is actually banked because the vestibular system was not able to sense the gradual change in attitude. When the pilot tries to level the wings after the turn, it may induce an illusion that the aircraft is banking in the opposite direction, which causes the pilot to lean in the direction of the original turn and cause rolling (Gillingham 1992). This phenomenon results in Spatial Disorientation (SD), that is, the pilot falsely perceives the aircraft’s position, attitude, or motion during flight (Martinussen and Hunter 2017). Such SD illusions can negatively affect pilots’ flight performance and psychophysiological functions such as increased mental stress and fatigue (Gresty et al. 2008; Kang, Yun, and Kim 2020; Webb, Estrada, and Kelley 2012). Based on the United States Air Force flight statistics, SD accounts for 14% of all flight mishaps and 26% of all fatal aviation accidents (Gibb, Ercoline, and Scharff 2011). In addition, from the results of multiple surveys conducted to investigate the SD phenomenon, it was revealed that leans was the most commonly experienced SD illusion (Holmes et al. 2003; Pennings et al. 2020). Thus, further investigation with regards to addressing leans illusion is crucial to prevent critical aviation accidents.