Flight Training - December 2019 - 20

PREFLIGHT ASI NEWS

BY ALICIA HERRON

UP IS DOWN

To learn more about spatial
disorientation, read the Spatial
Disorientation Safety Advisor
(airsafetyinstitute.
org/safetyadvisors/
spatialdisorientation)

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU CAN ONLY BELIEVE YOUR EYES
WHAT IS SPATIAL DISORIENTATION? WHY DO YOU, AS A

student pilot, need to know about it?
Spatial disorientation is the mistaken perception of
your position and motion relative to the Earth. More
simply, any time the instruments say one thing and the
signals from your body tell you that something different
is happing, you are experiencing spatial disorientation.
You might see a turn on the instruments, but feel straight
and level, or vice versa. These warring senses can lead a
pilot to put in controls to "correct" a flight attitude that
doesn't exist, and subsequently lead to loss of control. Any
condition that deprives a pilot of natural, visual references to maintain orientation can rapidly cause spatial
disorientation.
We tend to think that lack of visual reference means in
the clouds. Since you fly VFR, does that mean that you're
immune to spatial disorientation? No. The flight rules you
operate under don't preclude susceptibility to disorientation. Flying in the clouds is serious business, but haze,
darkness, or indistinct terrain (like flight over water) also
can create conditions that lead to disorientation.
The FAA requires private pilot applicants to receive at
least three hours of instrument training. Those three hours

are there to teach you the basics, and to give you enough
skill to be able to maintain control over the airplane in an
emergency (yes, VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions is an emergency if you're not proficient in
instrument flight), and reverse course. Disabuse yourself
of the dangerously false idea that you, with just a few
hours of instrument training, are capable of prolonged
flight in instrument meteorological conditions. You aren't.
A great way to gain respect for spatial disorientation
is to feel it yourself under controlled conditions. Ask your
instructor to spatially disorient you aloft (in VMC, of
course) or try it in a simulator-even partial motion sims
have been known to cause disorientation.
No pilot of any certificate level or experience is
immune to spatial disorientation, but further training
in instrument flight will make you safer should you
encounter unexpected IMC or IMC-like conditions. For
now, focus on achieving your private pilot certificate, but
consider adding on an instrument rating in the future.
While flying, develop and maintain respect for the unique
conditions that can cause spatial disorientation.
alicia.herron@aopa.org

DUAL ENGINE FLAMEOUT
IN THERE I WAS... EPISODE 12, WE TALK WITH FLORIDA-BASED AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE AIR TREK. ON A ROUTINE TRANSPORT

flight from Naples, Florida, to Niagara Falls, New York, Capt. Bruce Monnier and co-captain Gerald Downs experienced a dual
engine flameout in their Cessna Citation II. Strangely, that wasn't the only jet in Air Trek's fleet to experience an emergency that
day. Join us as we talk to the pilots and hear how they worked together to land safely and discover the cause of the incident.
airsafetyinstitute.org/thereiwas

20 FLIGHT TRAINING DECEMBER 2019

http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/thereiwas

Flight Training - December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - December 2019