Spatial Disorientation: Decades of Pilot Fatalities

Abstract

Spatial disorientation (SD) has been a contributing factor in aviation mishaps for decades and efforts to mitigate SD have not been proportionate to the danger it poses to pilots. We argue that SD contributes to nearly 33% of all mishaps with a fatality rate of almost 100%. However, SD has not garnered the respect and awareness it requires from leadership and pilots because of historically inaccurate reporting within accident investigations and under-reporting of SD data in research. Over 30 research studies and 10 mishap case studies are presented to portray SD's role in aviation accidents since 1913. Research and training are recommended to improve pilot respect and awareness for SD-inducing scenarios that would include pilot recognition and successful recovery using SD-specific simulators. Consequently, funding is needed to further SD research, to fund SD training, as well as amend the current mishap investigation process to better articulate SD contributions in aviation accidents.

Error Analysis for Localizing Egocentric Multimodal Cues in the Presence of Helicopter Noise

“…Approximately 30% of all aviation mishaps involve SD (Gibb, Ercoline, & Scharff, 2011). Although the mishap rate attributed to SD tends to be slightly lower for U.S. Army aviation, hovering around 20% (Higginbotham, 2014), the issue of SD in the U.S. Army has become increasingly important over the past ten years, in large part due to degraded visual environment (DVE) operations in the desert conditions of Iraq and Afghanistan.…”

Possibilities of Assessing Objectively a Flight Illusion Effect on a Pilot’s Spatial Orientation

“…As it results from analyses of available reports on air accidents being investigated in air forces of developed countries, a considerable number of those accidents were brought about by failure of the human factor, namely by failing to manage the effect of a flight illusion. The inability to respond to a flight illusion appropriately can lead to the pilot's spatial disorientation which may, under certain conditions, result in an air accident (usually with fatal consequences) [4].…”

Perceived radial translation during centrifugation

“…The latter illusion refers to a tilt sensation induced by linear inertial acceleration, and is a serious threat to aviators. In poor visual conditions it can lead to a controlled flight into terrain [13]. Analogous to the somatogravic illusion, oscillatory linear motion on a sled in the dark gives rise to a sensation as if moving over a hilltop [14].…”