Features
February 2012 Issue
Getting Disoriented
Prevent spatial disorientation when transitioning off the gauges with practice and by knowing what to expect when you break out.
You just broke out of the clag on final, late in the day, with the weather at minimums, when illusion strikes. Are you low on the approach? High? Not sure? At the last moment you realize you’re high and long; time to go missed. Maybe it worked the other way around; you’re on approach and as you get to where you expect the threshold marks to pass below you realize you’re low, short and about to touch down—short of the runway. At its worst, these vision deceptions can contribute to spatial disorientation in VMC that’s more confusing than the dizziness of becoming disoriented inside the eggshell of IMC.
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