Spatial disorientation

FloridaPilot

FloridaPilot

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Hello,

As you already know I'm a newbie and here in the forums people talk about spatial disorientation. So I read up on it and I got the technical terms, (What happened to JFK jr, the vestibular system....etc) but it hasn't stuck in my mind yet. Has anybody experienced it? What was it like? If I can read about experiences I can grasp the subject. It was said that Scuba Divers get it too but I never experienced anything like that before.


As always thanks for your input!
 
I am very susceptible to it.

First, in my training , I went to the CAMI center in OKC and did the rapid decompression chamber and Hypoxia training. Everyone should do that.

Then they put you in a couple different spinning things that after a few min, your body starts to think you are straight and level and not moving (cannot see outside the sim for reference)

Then they have you reach down and pick up a pencil.
Holy Hell! Ya feel like you are falling backwards down a ladder even though relative to the sim you are in, all you did was move your head.

That is an extreme example.

What I get and you may be able to recreate this is go on a long night flight with a CFI or do some foggle work with a CFI


When I fly long straight distances at night, I get this really strong sensation that I am leaning (always to the left) and with sparse ground reference, I feel like I am crabbing 45 degrees (also always to the left)

It happens a lot and the trick for me is when feeling it, just look at the attitude indicator and "fly" that for a few seconds and then everything starts coming back.

If ever you get disoriented, move your eyes and not your head. The fluid spinning in your head shifts when you move your head but not your eyes.

At any rate, I have never been in a cloud and gotten out of sorts but night flights I almost always get lied to by my body.

This is not the same but also a good way to get your body to lie to you.
Go up with a CFI and fly with your eyes closed for about 30 seconds.

Maybe even make a couple banks left and right but then bring it back to level flight.

When you open your eyes you will be surprised at what your body is telling you versus what your eyes see.

Hope that helps.
 
Next time your instructor has you do unusual attitudes tell him to have you close your eyes and have him tell you to turn, climb, descend etc... it gets you in to a completely different state than you were expecting and you can tell that your body lied to you.

I think its more realistic anyway. You are expecting to open your eyes and see something that resembles the picture you just drew in your head since you were told what to do with the aircraft, but then you get surprised by what is really there. Simulates what can happen in life a little better.
 
TrevorHN47 said:
Next time your instructor has you do unusual attitudes tell him to have you close your eyes and have him tell you to turn, climb, descend etc... it gets you in to a completely different state than you were expecting and you can tell that your body lied to you.

I think its more realistic anyway. You are expecting to open your eyes and see something that resembles the picture you just drew in your head since you were told what to do with the aircraft, but then you get surprised by what is really there. Simulates what can happen in life a little better.
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Absolutely.

It's also possible for your instructor or another pilot to demonstrate some of the modes in the Airplane Flying Handbook. For instance, you can close your eyes and have the other pilot roll slowly into a 30 deg turn, then rapidly out of it.

The pencil trick can be done in an airplane, too. Or you can substitute the fuel selector or rudder trim on a 172. While that's not terribly cheap, it may be a lot less than a trip to OKC. :)
 
I got spatial d only once. It was years ago during IFR training in the Army.

I flying a TH-67 during IMC and was doing a VOR approach into EUF. I had just started my right turn and descent inbound when my IP direct my attention up and to the left. He pointed to some circuit breaker on the overhead panel and asked something like "what's this?" I don't even remember what my reply was but when I looked back at my instruments, my whole world was spinning! For a split second I panicked because I had never experienced anything so disorienting but then I fell back on my training and went with the old "delay intuitive reaction." So, I just guarded the controls, made no inputs and let the aircraft do its own thing. During spatial d, you always hear guidance to "trust your instruments." That's great and all but the real problem is that you're so disoriented, in my case coriolis illusion, that it's hard to even interpret what the instruments are telling you. I was literally telling myself that "blue means up, blue means up." Then I had to talk thru what the HSI was doing. "It's turning, that's good but to where?" It's a painfully slow process that feels like a forever but really only lasted maybe 30-45 secs. I had confidence in continuing the approach because I had an IP with me. I knew that if I couldn't regain orientation that I could transfer the controls to him. I did get my bearings straight though and knocked out a decent VOR approach. During debrief my IP said that he intentionally did that to see how it affected me. It worked!

That was the only time in 20 yrs of flying and countless unusual attitudes, aerobatics IAPs etc, that I was disoriented. Later on as an instrument examiner I had a few occasions where pilots relinquished the controls when they got spatial d. Dark nights (Afghanistan) with no visual references can mess your world up. :)
 
Does it feel like you are going to pass out? I'm a registered Scuba Diver and from what you guys are mentioning it sounds a lot like vertigo. Where at one point you don't know if you are up or down.
 
I flew into a cloud once. I immediately turned my attention to the instruments. Do not get caught looking at the clouds if you fly through them. In an emergency situation trust your instruments
 
In the soup I get it very easy. Even got it on a commercial plane in rough weather, I thought we were rolling. :eek:

Trust your gages. Period.
 
FloridaPilot said:
Does it feel like you are going to pass out? I'm a registered Scuba Diver and from what you guys are mentioning it sounds a lot like vertigo. Where at one point you don't know if you are up or down.
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It is like vertigo. You have to trust what your gages say flying, and what your bubbles say when diving. Bubbles go up.
 
It happened to me in my IFR training. I could swear I was in a left turn descending. After about 3 seconds I deciphered from the gauges I was actually in a right turn gaining altitude. I got it straight and level and told my CFII what happened, he said he knew it but wanted to see what I was going to do. He then said again he wouldn't let me get us in a situation he couldn't get us out of. In retrospect I am glad it happened and I now know what it is.
 
but we could see which way the bubbles were going
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
but we could see which way the bubbles were going
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I wish I had kept this cartoon.... First pane had two pilots chatting about the ease and simplicity of flying IFR. Second pane, the Copilot asks if the other wants some coffee and gets an affirmative answer. Last pane shows the coffee poring out of the thermos onto the ceiling.
 
Go into a bumpy cloud and it's easy to get.

I just pretend that I'm playing a flight simulator video game (the instruments) inside a room that someone is randomly tossing about. Works for me...
 
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