Survey of Severe Spatial Disorientation Episodes in Japan Air Self-Defense Force Fighter Pilots Showing Increased Severity in Night Flight

Abstract

Spatial disorientation (SD) is one of the most severe causative factors in aviation accidents. We analyzed the reported SD episodes to evaluate the characteristics of severe SD in fighter pilots. Three hundred seventeen cases (95.5%) of 332 total valid cases experienced SD, and the ratio of night and day SD experiences (52.7% vs. 47.3%) (p < 0.05) shows a clear prevalence of night SD events. The severity of SD episodes at night (2.23 +/- 1.09) was higher than at day (1.89 +/- 1.04) (p < 0.01). In addition, the severity of visual illusions was significantly higher at night. A significant difference was found for meteorological conditions, such as visual meteorological conditions (VMC), instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) and VMC-IMC (VI) transition, among times of days. In conclusion, the severity of the SD episodes was higher at night. This may be due to an increase in visual severe SD episodes at night.

Wrist-Worn Electrodermal Activity as a Novel Neurophysiological Biomarker of Autonomic Symptoms in Spatial Disorientation

“…Spatial disorientation is a major risk for pilots (30, 31), and spatial disorientation-related accidents have been reported in many fighter aircraft and rotorcrafts (2, 32, 33). Therefore, in the interests of aviation safety, spatial disorientation training is considered to be important for pilots and pilot candidates (11–14).…”

A survey of spatial disorientation incidence in Polish military pilots

“…To clarify this issue, a revision of this question (the last question in the survey) was proposed by Holmes et al [17]. Moreover, considering that the severity of the episode of SD was significantly higher for night flying as compared to day flying [28], this question could be additionally phrased in such a way that the time of the day would be taken into account when reporting an episode of SD. Discussing the worst ever episodes of SD, it is also worth mentioning that younger pilots (aged ≤35 years) were more likely to have rated their worst ever episode as severe than older pilots (aged >35 years) [24].…”

Telecommunications health and safety: Fighter pilot disorientation and pulsed microwave radiation from radars

“…Military pilots often report cognitive performance challenges during fl ight operations. Many have reported experiences with spatial disorientation (SD), in which the pilot's perception of aircraft position, motion, altitude, or attitude does not correspond to reality [2][3][4][5]. Spatial disorientation has posed a signifi cant problem for military pilots and continues to be a challenge today.…”

“…These reports indicate that spatial disorientation mishaps occur in fi ghter/ attack aircraft at more than fi ve times the rate of non-fi ghter/ attack, fi xed-wing aircraft. Indeed, the rate of spatialdisorientation-related accidents has been estimated to be 11%-12% of military aircraft crashes [3,4].…”