Instrument Failure, Stress, and Spatial Disorientation Leading to a Fatal Crash With a Large Aircraft

Tribukait, Arne; Eiken, Ola

doi:10.3357/amhp.4885.2017

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Nevertheless, the magnitude of perceived bank angle may become a determining factor in rare situations where high cognitive workload or acute psychological stress impairs the pilot's ability to manoeuvre based on rational scanning of the instruments [1,24]. Thus, demonstrations in a centrifuge, with recordings of the subjective visual horizontal, may not only provide insight into sensory mechanisms underlying spatial orientation but could also contribute to the pilot's awareness of personal limitations.…”

Section: Inter-individual Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual measures of perceived roll tilt in pilots during coordinated flight and gondola centrifugation

Tribukait

Bergsten

Brink

et al. 2023

VES

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BACKGROUND: During a simulated coordinated turn in a gondola centrifuge, experienced pilots show a substantial inter-individual variability in visual measures of perceived roll tilt. Because of the centrifuge’s small radius, the pattern of stimuli to the semicircular canals during acceleration of the centrifuge differs in certain respects from that of an aircraft entering a turn. OBJECTIVE: To explore whether these differences may be of significance for the pilot’s roll- plane orientation and whether individual characteristics revealed in the centrifuge correspond to those during real flight. METHOD: 8 fixed-wing air-force pilots were tested in a centrifuge and a high-performance aircraft. The centrifuge was accelerated to 2 G (gondola inclination 60°) within 10 s. The duration at 2 G was 6 minutes. Similar profiles were created in the aircraft. The subjective visual horizontal (SVH) was measured using an adjustable luminous line in darkness. Each pilot was tested on three occasions: centrifuge (2 runs), aircraft (2 turns), centrifuge (2 runs). For each 2-G exposure, initial and final SVH values were established via curve fitting. RESULT: Despite a large inter-individual variability (±SD), group means were similar in the aircraft (initial: 43.0±20.6°; final: 22.5±14.8°) and centrifuge (initial: 40.6±17.0°; final: 20.5±16.0°). Further, individual peculiarities in response patterns were similar in the two conditions. For both the initial and final SVH tilt there was a high correlation between centrifuge and aircraft. CONCLUSION: The correspondence between conditions suggests that the centrifuge is an adequate means for demonstrating the fundamental motion pattern of coordinated flight and also for establishing the individual pilot’s ability to perceive an aircraft’s roll attitude. Findings are discussed in connection with vestibular learning and the possibility of underlying differences between pilots in the keenness for semicircular canal and somatosensory cues.

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Section: Inter-individual Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual measures of perceived roll tilt in pilots during coordinated flight and gondola centrifugation

Tribukait

Bergsten

Brink

et al. 2023

VES

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“…In addition, severe stress causes a restriction of the field of attention, such that even the experienced pilot may focus entirely on one single instrument [ 37 ]. Such coning of attention, as well as the tendency to manoeuvre the aircraft guided by vestibular illusions, is an important cause of accidents [ 52 ]. The study of vestibular mechanisms for self-motion perception has been motivated to a great extent by this spatial disorientation problem.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial orientation during gondola centrifugation with subjects upright versus supine: Evidence for Gestalt psychological mechanisms in vestibular perception

Tribukait

Eiken

2021

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BACKGROUND: Recent theories suggest that perception of complex self-motion is governed by familiarity of the motion pattern as a whole in 3D. OBJECTIVE: To explore how familiarity determines the perceived angular displacement with respect to the Earth during a simulated coordinated turn in a gondola centrifuge. METHOD: The centrifuge was accelerated to 2G (gondola displacement 60°) within 12.5 s. Using visual indicators in darkness, responses to the gondola displacement were recorded with subjects (n = 10) in two positions: sitting-upright, facing-forward versus lying-supine, feet-forwards. Each subject underwent 2×2 6-minute runs. RESULT: When upright, subjects indicated a tilt of initially 18.8±11.3°, declining with T = 66±37 s. In the supine position (subject’s yaw plane coinciding with the plane of gondola displacement) the indicated displacement was negligible (–0.3±4.8°). CONCLUSION: Since the canal system is most responsive to stimuli in yaw, these findings are difficult to explain by bottom-up models. Rather, the motion pattern during acceleration would be recognized as a familiar or meaningful whole (entering a co-ordinated turn) only when the subject is upright. Presumably, the degree of familiarity is reflected in the subject’s ability to discern and estimate a single stimulus component. Findings are discussed in connection with human factors in aviation and the principles of Gestalt psychology.

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Optical Illusions and Spatial Disorientation in Aviation Pilots

et al. 2018

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Instrument Failure, Stress, and Spatial Disorientation Leading to a Fatal Crash With a Large Aircraft

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Visual measures of perceived roll tilt in pilots during coordinated flight and gondola centrifugation

Visual measures of perceived roll tilt in pilots during coordinated flight and gondola centrifugation

Spatial orientation during gondola centrifugation with subjects upright versus supine: Evidence for Gestalt psychological mechanisms in vestibular perception

Optical Illusions and Spatial Disorientation in Aviation Pilots

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