Beware of false sensations. Your inner ear will give you feelings
that are overpowering. With low time under the hood you must avoid
attempting to extend maneuvers beyond just holding recognize that
these a heading or a
standard rate bank. Any more may exceed your skill capacity for
aircraft control in IFR conditions. Any tenseness will cause the
inexperienced to over-control. If you have learned to use trim
well as a VFR student you may be able to trim successfully for
hands-off IFR flight. An aircraft trimmed for hands-off in pitch
can be flown in roll (heading) with just rudder input. Descents
are controlled by slow power reductions, only.
May cause nystagmus (trembling of the eyes) which makes reading
of instruments impossible. Rare but can occur in extremes of weather
or flight conditions. Other types of disorientation are illusions
such as caused by runway/cloud sizes, shapes, or slope.
Unrecognized spatial disorientation is caused by a combination
of a focused attention, distraction and instrument fixation. These
most often occur in companion with loss of situational awareness
due to excessive work load.
Recognized spatial disorientation is when the pilot is aware
of his disorientation. Being aware means that the pilot should
be able make his recovery with power and attitude corrections.
Pilots have, over the radio, acknowledged their vertigo and inability
to overcome it prior to crashing. Spatial disorientation is considered
incapacitating when the attitude of the aircraft is so unusual
that pilot is unable to determine the cause, organizing the instrument
information, and making control decisions.
Vertigo is the #1 cause of Air Force fatal accidents. Vision
is the pre-installed vertigo preventative. A moments glance out-the-window
is all it takes. This will overcome any sensations from other
sources. However, without vision, the organs of balance in the
inner ear take over. The semicircular canals approximate the three
axes. They contain a fluid that stimulates our senses of angular
acceleration in these axes. Our sense of uprightness is done by
the otolith organs. Tiny stones affect hair sensors in reaction
to "gravity". Otoliths sense linear accelerations, not
angular accelerations, and regardless of the direction interpret
such accelerations as gravity. In our muscles and joints we have
sensors that give additional information about push or pull. Unless
one or all of these sensors are confirmed by vision we are on
our way to vertigo.
The simulation used for vertigo such as the Barany chair, the
yardstick on the nose, etc. in no way prepare the pilot for the
real occurrence of vertigo. Unlimited motion in all three axes
as well as planetary motion for acceleration are required. Even
with these in place it is additionally necessary to create a work
overload. The instructor should expose the student to simulations
that closely approximate the real thing. That is except for safety
of altitude, configuration and airspeed. To train the recovery
the same forces and psychological pressures must be recreated
over and over by inflight simulations.
Last Modified January 18, ©2026 TAGE.COM
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