4. Learning to Respect Spatial Disorientation
Too many pilots get killed every year because they fly into clouds inadvertently. According to the latest Air Safety Institute Nall Report, 518 deaths were caused by VFR flight into IMC conditions in the past 10 years. It’s one thing to get under the hood and having an instructor put you into an unusual attitude. It’s quite another to see what it’s really like to be in the clouds. Even if you have no interest in getting your instrument rating, I highly recommend getting into an airplane with an instructor and getting into the clouds. It will teach you never to trust your inner ear and never to get into the clouds without being instrument rated and current.
Read the full Learning to Respect Spatial Disorientation tip here.
All Comments
It's good to see an article slanted toward non pilots. What better way to woo new members into our midst? Too much of our media "preaches to the choir".
Haze can kill you as fast as clouds. It was haze that obscured the lights on the shoreline and caused the spatial disorientation that killed JFK, Jr..
This Flying Tips is a very good idea. We used to hang out at the small local airports and exchange flying stories, this is not done anymore.
I think you should pursue this old time tradition with hardcopy, covering early pilot training. The small local airport will teach you how to fly and recover from unusual attitudes.
I usually did quite well in the hooded cabin, but in the clouds it is a different matter. While IR is off course great advantage it does not help much to land in poor visibility on the grass airfield.
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