Human Factors and Spatial Disorientation
Key vestibular illusions, physiology, and workload traps that make flight without outside references dangerous.
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Questions Covered in This Set
11 cards to master
What did the '178-second' finding show?
Non-instrument-rated pilots who fly into cloud lose control in under three minutes on average — vision is essential for orientation.
What are the three orientation systems, and which dominates?
Vision (~80% of orientation info, dominant), the vestibular system (semicircular canals + otoliths), and proprioception ('seat of the pants').
What do the semicircular canals actually sense, and how do they fail?
They sense angular acceleration, not rate. In a steady turn the fluid catches up in ~15–20 seconds and the brain reads 'no rotation'; rolling out then feels like a turn the opposite way.
Why can't the otolith organs tell a coordinated turn from level flight?
They sense the gravito-inertial vector, not gravity, so a 30° bank at 1.15 g just feels 'heavier and wings level' — sustained acceleration mimics pitch change.
Describe The Leans and its fix.
A sub-threshold roll (under ~2°/sec) goes unnoticed; the abrupt correction is felt, so you believe you're banked the other way and lean while instruments show level. Fix: trust the instruments, keep scanning, let the sensation fade.
Describe the Graveyard Spiral and the correct recovery.
A prolonged turn feels level; altitude bleeds off, and pulling back plus power tightens the spiral. Fix: level the wings FIRST, then recover pitch.
What is the Somatogravic Illusion?
Forward acceleration (go-around, black-hole takeoff) feels like a pitch-up, tempting you to push forward into the ground; deceleration feels nose-down, tempting a pull-up and stall.
What triggers the Coriolis Illusion and how do you avoid it?
Head movement during a turn stimulates a second canal, producing an overwhelming, incapacitating tumbling sensation. Avoid abrupt head movements in turns; look down wings-level or brief the scan first.
Contrast the Inversion and Elevator Illusions.
Inversion: abrupt level-off from a climb feels like tumbling backwards, prompting a push-over. Elevator: an updraft feels like a climb (you push down); a downdraft the reverse.
What are False Horizons and autokinesis?
False horizons: sloping cloud tops, shorelines, city lights on a hillside, or the aurora adopted as 'level.' Autokinesis: a fixed light stared at in darkness for 5–10 seconds appears to move.
Why does disorientation usually become fatal?
It rarely kills alone — it kills a pilot already saturated, because the instrument scan is a serial attention task shared with communication and navigation.
