Spatial Disorientation And Sensory Illusions Of Flight

"Flying an aircraft is a challenging activity that exposes pilots to many potential hazards. One of the most significant of these is spatial disorientation. Spatial disorientation is a condition where the pilot is unable to correctly interpret aircraft attitude, altitude or airspeed in relation to the Earth. The resulting disorientation can lead to a loss of control of the aircraft. [...] The ATSB report explains that the chances of a spatial disorientation event occurring in flight can be reduced by a series of simple preventive measures, many of which can be attended to before flight. These include flying when fit and well to do so, not flying under the influence of alcohol or medications, avoiding visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions, increasing awareness of spatial disorientation illusions and planning for their possible appearance at different stages of flight in the pre-flight planning process."--Publisher's website.

Vision is the dominant sense used by pilots and visual misperception has been identified as the primary contributing factor in numerous aviation mishaps, resulting in hundreds of fatalities and major resource loss. Despite physiological limitations for sensing and perceiving their aviation environment, pilots can often make the required visual judgments with a high degree of accuracy and precision. At the same time, however, visual illusions and misjudgments have been cited as the probable cause of numerous aviation accidents, and in spite of technological and instructional efforts to remedy some of the problems associated with visual perception in aviation, mishaps of this type continue to occur. Clearly, understanding the role of visual perception in aviation is key to improving pilot performance and reducing aviation mishaps. This book is the first dedicated to the role of visual perception in aviation, and it provides a comprehensive, single-source document encompassing all aspects of aviation visual perception. Thus, this book includes the foundations of visual and vestibular sensation and perception; how visual perceptual abilities are assessed in pilots; the pilot's perspective of visual flying; a summary of human factors research on the visual guidance of flying; examples of specific visual and vestibular illusions and misperceptions; mishap analyses from military, commercial and general aviation; and, finally, how this knowledge is being used to better understand visual perception in aviation's next generation. Aviation Visual Perception: Research, Misperception and Mishaps is intended to be used for instruction in academia, as a resource for human factors researchers, design engineers, and for instruction and training in the pilot community.

"It has been known for many years that aircrew suffer from false sensations and perception of aircraft motion and these illusions may hazard the safety of the aircraft and its occupants. Yet, despite the many papers in the technical literature which deal with differing aspects of the problem of spatial disorientation there are few which are comprehensive and none provide the non-specialist reader with an explanation of the causes of the sensory illusions which reflect contemporary biological and medical knowledge. The text which follows was prepared in an attempt to redress this deficiency."--Preface.

This publication was written to address the lack of information that exists today regarding spatial disorientation and its effects as it relates to divers. Spatial disorientation contributes more to causing accidents than any other psychological problem in a multi-directional space, such as diving underwater or flying through the air. Regardless of their amount of time or experience underwater, all divers are subject to disorientation. The human body is structured to perceive changes in movement when standing vertically on land in relation to the surface of the earth. When diving, the human sensory systems-the visual system, vestibular system, and proprioceptive system-can and will give the brain erroneous orientation information due to positioning and movement of the body in a space and along an axis foreign to our biological design. This information can and will cause some degree of sensory illusions, which in-turn lead to spatial disorientation, that further leads to confusion, lost time in actions, potentially harmful or dangerous reactions, and a developing spiral of out-of-control events leading to an accident or death.

Human error is cited as a major cause in over 70% of accidents, andit is widely agreed that a better understanding of humancapabilities and limitations - both physical and psychological -would help reduce human error and improve flight safety. This book was first published when the UK Civil AviationAuthority introduced an examination in human performance andlimitations for all private and professional pilot licences. Nowthe Joint Aviation Authorities of Europe have published a newsyllabus as part of their Joint Aviation Requirements for FlightCrew Licensing. The book has been completely revised and rewritten to takeaccount of the new syllabus. The coverage of basic aviationpsychology has been greatly expanded, and the section on aviationphysiology now includes topics on the high altitude environment andon health maintenance. Throughout, the text avoids excessive jargonand technical language. "There is no doubt that this book provides an excellent basicunderstanding of the human body, its limitations, the psychologicalprocesses and how they interact with the aviation environment. I amcurrently studying for my ATPL Ground Exams and I found this bookto be an invaluable aid. It is equally useful for those studyingfor the PPL and for all pilots who would like to be reminded oftheir physiological and psychological limitations." –General Aviation, June 2002

Human error is implicated in nearly all aviation accidents, yet most investigation and prevention programs are not designed around any theoretical framework of human error. Appropriate for all levels of expertise, the book provides the knowledge and tools required to conduct a human error analysis of accidents, regardless of operational setting (i.e. military, commercial, or general aviation). The book contains a complete description of the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS), which incorporates James Reason's model of latent and active failures as a foundation. Widely disseminated among military and civilian organizations, HFACS encompasses all aspects of human error, including the conditions of operators and elements of supervisory and organizational failure. It attracts a very broad readership. Specifically, the book serves as the main textbook for a course in aviation accident investigation taught by one of the authors at the University of Illinois. This book will also be used in courses designed for military safety officers and flight surgeons in the U.S. Navy, Army and the Canadian Defense Force, who currently utilize the HFACS system during aviation accident investigations. Additionally, the book has been incorporated into the popular workshop on accident analysis and prevention provided by the authors at several professional conferences world-wide. The book is also targeted for students attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University which has satellite campuses throughout the world and offers a course in human factors accident investigation for many of its majors. In addition, the book will be incorporated into courses offered by Transportation Safety International and the Southern California Safety Institute. Finally, this book serves as an excellent reference guide for many safety professionals and investigators already in the field.