The aviation community needs to re-energize its efforts to increase awareness, training and research regarding the potentially fatal consequences of spatial disorientation. There are still far too many examples of pilots falling prey to this age-old killer. At a time when technology adds more to the pilot’s toolbox of information and capabilities, impediments to information processing and attention are not being addressed sufficiently.
Spatial disorientation occurs when a pilot fails to properly sense the aircraft’s motion, position or attitude relative to the horizon and the earth’s surface. Spatial disorientation can happen to any pilot at any time, regardless of his or her flying experience, and often is associated with fatigue, distraction, highly demanding cognitive tasks and/or degraded visual conditions.
In 2008 and 2009, the U.S. Air Force lost two F-16s, an F-15E and three of the four pilots. These accidents involved pilots flying highly demanding night missions wh…
