The Magnitude of the Spatial Disorientation Problem in Transport Airplanes

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Loss-of-control (LOC) is the major cause of transport airplane mishaps. There have been many published reports and papers examining these accidents. While these studies did mention spatial disorientation (SD) as a cause or a factor, none of them analyzed it further. The present study uses transport and commuter airplane mishap data for a recent 35-yr period and examines the results of those mishaps involving spatial disorientation.METHOD: We identified LOC and SD accidents from five national aviation accident organizations and two independent groups. Only “normal” operations (air carrier, noncommercial transportation, ferry flights, and training) were considered. We reviewed transport and commuter airplane accidents using the published reports and identified 94 involving SD.RESULTS: We found the distribution of SD mishaps differs from LOC mishaps. During initial climb, there were relatively fewer SD mishaps (16%) than LOC mishaps (31%). During enroute climb SD has relatively more mishaps (18%) than LOC (11%). During go-around or missed approach phases, there were relatively more SD mishaps (21%) than LOC mishaps (4%). Perhaps the most significant observation was an increasing number of SD mishaps during the period reviewed.DISCUSSION: There are several possible reasons for the increasing numbers of SD mishaps over the study period from 1981 to 2016. Somatogravic illusion during go-around or missed approach accounts for only some of this increase. There is insufficient data to determine the reason for the remaining increase.Newman RL, Rupert AH. The magnitude of the spatial disorientation problem in transport airplanes. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(2):65–70.

ZFX expression is connected with improved survival in patients with breast cancer

“…Throughout the hematological system, ZFX has been implicated in BCR-induced B-cell proliferation and survival (8). ZFX was also shown to be an inhibitor of acute T-lymphoblastic leukemia and myeloid leukemia differentiation (9), and was revealed to be required for imatinib resistance and proliferation of chronic myeloid leukemia cells (10). In nonhematopoietic malignancies, ZFX has been implicated in tumor development and cell proliferation in a number of solid tumors.…”

A Procedure for Inducing the Leans Illusion in a Hexapod Motion Simulator

“…Spatial disorientation (SD) in-flight, which is an erroneous sense of the aircraft attitude and motion due to misleading cues, remains one of the major causes of fatal accidents in aviation. It was estimated that SD has contributed to 12% of loss of control accidents between 1996 and 2010 in civil aviation [1], and it was thought to be the primary cause in 7% of all mishaps [2]. In military operations, SD is a more serious issue, with an estimated contribution of 30% in fatal accidents [3].…”

“…In military operations, SD is a more serious issue, with an estimated contribution of 30% in fatal accidents [3]. The majority of these accidents involved SD of which the pilots were unaware [2]. This suggests that increasing pilot knowledge about SD, and the situations in which SD is likely to occur, may possibly help with recognising the illusions and preventing accidents.…”

In pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, differential expression of the methyltransferases METTL1, METTL6, and METTL10 is linked to a worse overall survival rate

“…Resection is the sole possibly curative therapy option if the tumor is operable (9,10). The single chemotherapeutic agent of choice, gemcitabine, has shown a survival advantage over the prior medication of choice, fluorouracil (11)(12)(13)(14). The addition of albumin-bound paclitaxel, often known as nab-paclitaxel, to gemcitabine improved median progression-free survival from 3.7 months in the gemcitabine-alone group to 5.5 months in the gemcitabine + nab-paclitaxel group (15).…”