Spatial Disorientation Visual Illusions

 

Spatial Disorientation Visual Illusions

The purpose of this series of publications on my safety blog is to provide to fly safe.

So, I’m always focusing to provide safety to all of you pilots, who read my articles on this safety blog, and also the responsibility to be a good safety pilot consistently always.

What is judgment to you as a pilot? This question is not easily defined, but one definition in my personal view is that judgment is good, common sense, as applied to making of decisions, especially correct decisions, (Sense), so, common sense is generally applied to a person’s ability to act effectively and positively in any situation.

Accidents statistics indicate that the vast majority of aviation accidents are involve in pilot error.

Today, I want to refresh the memory to all pilots, that spatial disorientation in flight sometimes are difficult to accomplish, so, how does spatial disorientation affect a pilot?

Spatial disorientation can also affect instrument-rated private and commercial pilots in certain situations.

Spatial disorientation is more likely to happen when there is no visible horizon on a dark night or in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). If malfunctioning flight instruments, high workload or a failure in management to maintain a good CRM (Crew Resource Management), are present too, then the risk of spatial disorientation is increased.

Keep in mind, that general aviation airplane accidents are involving spatial disorientation.

Here are some tips for avoiding spatial disorientation especially during night flying.

Give your eyes time to adjust, beware of bright lighting, watch for false horizons, and always trust your instruments, you as a safety pilot will be contributing to keeping the skies safe for everyone.

And always remember spatial disorientation is well-defined as the inability of a pilot to correctly interpret aircraft attitude, altitude or airspeed in relation to the earth or other points of reference.

Understanding spatial disorientation is a key to fly safe. Avoid and spatial disorientation accident, refresh your knowledge’s and I recommend you as a good safety pilot, read more about spatial disorientation. Always Fly Safe! 

The Best Safety Device in any Aircraft is a well-trained Safety Pilot.