All Pilots Hallucinate?

[JB73]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,314742,00.html

Report: Pilots’ Strange Illusions May Cause Death

Monday, December 03, 2007

Every pilot will lose all sense of direction, height and speed while flying at some point, and some will even feel as though they are sitting on the wing watching themselves in the cockpit, according to a report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).

The report said between 90 to 100 percent of aircraft pilots experienced “spatial disorientation” (SD) — one of the most common factors in plane crashes.

Aviation medicine specialist Dr. David Newman said pilots were commonly the victims of strange illusions that could be dangerous, and have been linked to between 15 and 26 percent of fatal crashes worldwide.

Some of the most common illusions experienced by pilots included feeling as though the plane was falling when it was slowing down, a false sensation of the aircraft “rolling” and a sense that the plane was not turning when it actually was.

Newman said that there were much stranger illusions experienced by pilots.

“In some cases, pilots may feel that they are sitting out on the wing of their aircraft, watching themselves flying the aircraft,” Newman said in the report.

“The knife edge illusion gives the pilot a sensation that the aircraft is precariously positioned in space, and extremely sensitive to control inputs. By contrast, the giant hand illusion gives the pilot the opposite sensation, that the aircraft is intolerable of control inputs and seemingly immovable in the air, as if held aloft by a giant hand.”

Newman said the illusions often occurred when pilots were not busy flying the plane.

“While seemingly bizarre, these illusions are generally associated with high altitude flight where the pilot has a relatively low level workload. Under such ‘fish-bowl’ conditions, the brain can wander and generate these strange illusions.”

The report said that pilots should be aware that they would experience SD sooner or later.

“If a pilot flies long enough as a career or even a hobby there is almost no chance that he or she will escape experiencing at least one episode of SD,” the report said.

The ATSB report said that pilots should take measures to reduce the impact of SD by flying when fit, not flying under the influence of alcohol or medication, increasing awareness of spatial disorientation illusions and planning for their possible appearance.

what's this all about?

We have a bunch of licensed pilots in here, have any of you experienced this? I don't know if this sounds real or just a bunch of hocus-pocus.

[nirvana]

Sounds real enough to me and I'd also venture to say some go through the same during long drives.  Put it in cruise control and give minor inputs as you fly down the highway at 80MPH.  Granted you have more to look at/pay attention to on the ground but I'm sure it happens quite a bit.

[Chairboy]

Absolutely I believe it.  My CFI-I mentioned that one of the first things he wanted to do when we started our instrument training was to get me into a cloud and induce some disorientation so I can see how dangerous it can be.

I'm sure most of the VFR into IMC deaths have had a type of spacial disorientation involved, and even though they tell you about it during your PP training, I can see hows some folks might not really believe it until they see it for themselves.

Spacial disorientation can kill ya just as fast in VMC, I guess it just takes longer to occur.

[Dago]

Of course all pilots hallucinate, all think they are Gods!  

Disorientation can happen to any pilot, most typically when outside visual conditions preclude viewing a horizon.  That is why pilots must be trained when on instruments, if flying at night of if they find themselves in limited visibility to trust their instruments over what they feel.

[ChickenHawk]

As far as I know, SD awareness is a part of every pilot's training, at least in the US.

The sitting on the wing and looking in is a bit of a stretch I think, unless drugs or alcohol are involved.  Just sounds like sensationalism from mass media on a slow news day.

[Nefarious]

Originally posted by JB73
what's this all about?

We have a bunch of licensed pilots in here, have any of you experienced this? I don't know if this sounds real or just a bunch of hocus-pocus.

Pilots since the 40's have came out publicly with UFO sightings and its treated as a joke or made into a History Channel Show. Plenty Recorded Comms of UFO sightings.

Sorry to go off topic a little, but I saw the TV show in that link last week and it was very spooky. Watch the other episodes if you got time.

[Pooh21]

If you are sitting on the wing makes it easier to kick the gremlins off.

[Maverick]

Originally posted by Pooh21
If you are sitting on the wing makes it easier to kick the gremlins off.

If you are sitting on the wing, doesn't that make you one of the gremlins???

[RTR]

Low, flat light with no discernable horizon, often encountered on an overcast winter day can produce significant spatial disorientation. Once you lose the horizon, and are in an area where you have no other solid visual reference the diorientation can be quite strong.

Mountains can give you some pretty wild illusions also when you are in amongst them. The problem arises when you have no "normal horizon" to judge your attitude by. Your body will tell you that you are in a banking gradual turn for instance  due to the off level visual references you have, when you are actually staight and level, or you may be banking and feel you are level.  ( A ledge you wish to land on for example may seem tilted and off level, when in fact is is level.)

Now all that being said, us woppity woppity types also fly using "vertical references" quite a bit. (stick your head out the door and look down).

So, Hallucinate?  I don't think that's really the right assesment. We are just subject to the same illusions any other human being would be, given the same circumstances. We just have a better understanding of what is happening, and what to cross check with.

Instruments dude, there is no substitute!

cheers,
RTR

[AWMac]

Originally posted by Maverick
If you are sitting on the wing, doesn't that make you one of the gremlins???

Only if you are taunting your co pilot.



Mac

[eagl]

It's not hallucination and it's certainly not new, or even particularly newsworthy.  Spatial Disorientation is well researched and documented.  The USAF has volumes of training materials covering known visual and vestibular sensory illusions.  From the simple one that makes it seem like you're climbing when you're really just accelerating, to complex rolling excess-G illusions that occur when pulling G's while looking back over one shoulder, these are well known and at least military pilots are specifically trained to recognize and counter their effects.

There are a few classes of spatial disorientation.  Recognized, unrecognized, and recognized/incapacitating.  Of the three, the second one (unrecognized) is the most deadly.  Recognized/incapacitating is next, and it's only less deadly than unrecognized when there is either a second crewmember who is not incapacitated, or if there is an ejection option available before it's too late.

I don't know a single pilot who has not experienced spatial disorientation at some point during their careers, and I've talked to people who have had all three types at some point in their careers.  I've also read accident reports where type 2 or 3 spatial disorientation led to a fatal mishap.

So it's not new, and it's not even very newsworthy.  The reaction of the general public to this sort of information however, when read without the right background training, is exactly why this report was not initially released outside the flying community.  It only says things we already knew, but it added some stats to things we couldn't put numbers against.

So when someone who doesn't know what this stuff means reads the report, they wonder about these hallucinations all pilots have.  It doesn't really help things, and the only way to address the public's hysteria is to attach what I'd estimate to be around 20 hours worth of academic lessons and video lectures to the basic report in order to show that this stuff isn't really all that new.  It seems like it's mostly just more documentation and research into stuff we already know about flying.

[Holden McGroin]

Spatial disorientation is not a hallucination.

The fluid channels (semicircular canals) in your ears gives data to your brain that allows for balance.
 

 
The eyes add data to that, but a blind man can still walk upright due to the data gathered in the SCCs.

The FAA brings a vertigo chair around to our EAA chapter every once in a while, an you sit in one of these chairs with you eyes closed.  The operator begins to turn you very slowly and spin you up to a few rpms. Once you believe that the spinning stops, you open your eyes and find out that you are still spinning.  The eyes and ears disagree and a violent reaction can take place.  

I took all the tests one night and was as seasick as I ever was on the ocean.  

Flying into insturment conditions is the equivalent of closing your eyes and only depending on your ears.  Just like in the chair, you can believe that something is not as it is, and spiral into the earth thinking you are flying straight and level.

Probably what happened to JFK Jr.

[Dago]

John Kennedy Jr. learned about spatial disorientation the hard way.

[JB73]

I used the word Hallucinate because of the "sitting on the wing watching"

that sounds a bit like an out of body or other mindset that is not normal. I don't know the right word for it, but that definitely sounds like somethings not right.

[Holden McGroin]

.Never heard of the out of body illusion, but here is a good website discussing the others