Instrument flying can be dull and boring. You’re straight and level, probably on autopilot, and there’s literally nothing to see except the wings and the instrument panel. Other phases of instrument flight aren’t so boring, though, especially if we want or need to hand-fly the airplane through a complicated departure or arrival. When we get busy like that, and perhaps distracted, that’s when instrument pilots are at greater risk of getting the airplane into an unusual attitude.
For our purposes, the FAA defines an unusual attitude as “an airplane attitude not normally required for instrument flight.” Key root causes of entering an unusual attitude, according to the FAA’s Instrument Flying Handbook (IFH, FAA-H-8083-15B), include turbulence, disorientation, instrument failure, confusion, preoccupation with flight deck duties, carelessness in cross-checking, errors in instrument interpretation and lack of proficiency in aircraft control. Aside from instrument failure or turbulence, all these causes boil down to pilot error of some sort.
