Climbing Illusion
The "False Climb" Illusion is very real and very dangerous. It is difficult to understand and kills many people that succumb to its effects.
The "False Climb" Illusion is very real and very dangerous. It is difficult to understand and kills many people that succumb to its effects.
One, of significance, is the crash of a Kennedy family member who took off over the Atlantic Ocean at night. I believe this was a false climb disorientation. Kennedy was not instrument rated.
Illusions are predominately misinterpretations of aircraft attitude by your brain. We learn, from infancy to our lives today, to trust our sense of sight, proprioceptors and position and balance as to our attitude with respect to the Earths surface and the force gravity.
When the visual horizon is limited or missing, like over the ocean on a dark night, the possibility of an illusion is quite high. Illusions affect pilots to different degrees. Experienced, instrument rated pilots are just as likely to succumb to the illusion of climbing too fast as beginning pilots. You must recognize the possibility of this illusion. Why?
When you are taking off, on dark nights, with visual reference limited, the possibility of crashing into the ground or water is very high before you can initiate a recovery.
If you read posted material on this blog the importance of the Inner ear is very important in attitude orientation in conjunction with your vision. Earth bound folks depend on vision and gravity to assess attitude. In flying, you add one additional component - acceleration in a straight line.
If you like State Fairs and carnivals they play mischief with your senses using varied acceleration in their rides. Sickness associated with amusement park rides is not unusual.
Illusions are predominately misinterpretations of aircraft attitude by your brain. We learn, from infancy to our lives today, to trust our sense of sight, proprioceptors and position and balance as to our attitude with respect to the Earths surface and the force gravity.
When the visual horizon is limited or missing, like over the ocean on a dark night, the possibility of an illusion is quite high. Illusions affect pilots to different degrees. Experienced, instrument rated pilots are just as likely to succumb to the illusion of climbing too fast as beginning pilots. You must recognize the possibility of this illusion. Why?
When you are taking off, on dark nights, with visual reference limited, the possibility of crashing into the ground or water is very high before you can initiate a recovery.
If you read posted material on this blog the importance of the Inner ear is very important in attitude orientation in conjunction with your vision. Earth bound folks depend on vision and gravity to assess attitude. In flying, you add one additional component - acceleration in a straight line.
If you like State Fairs and carnivals they play mischief with your senses using varied acceleration in their rides. Sickness associated with amusement park rides is not unusual.
Another name for this illusion is the Somatogravic Illusion. Basically, this treacherous event involves the signals the inner ear produces that are incorrect though they may feel correct. These sensory illusions occur because flight is an unnatural environment. Our senses are not capable of providing reliable signals that we can interpret and relate to our position in three dimensions without visual reference.
Your brain receives continuous signals from the inner ear, gravity and proprioceptors to tell you the position of your head. Now introduce straight line acceleration. This may occur from a sudden increase in power and/or a sudden dive in a plane.
What type of message is sent to the brain when straight line acceleration takes place? The illusion is the conflict between where the head attitude position actually is and what the head attitude seems to be from the linear acceleration.
When you don't have visual reference (like the horizon) the brain doesn't receive information from the eyes that corrects the feeling that the head is tilted backwards rather than accelerated.
If you remember the post on diving an airplane with respect to what makes a plane become airborne. In a vertical dive there is still lift being produced that, when combined with the force of gravity produces a resultant force vector that moves the aircraft along its original linear path while diving. In the illusion under discussion gravity and linear acceleration produce a resultant force that the inner ear senses.
Remember, man is used to gravity and vision to determine the bodies attitude with respect to the surface of the earth. Now make the connection to the position of the head.
Without visual information, the resultant force from a straight line acceleration in a plane moves in a rearward direction that sends a signal to the brain that, just like on the earths surface tells you your head is tilted backward.
Suppose Mr. Kennedy, waiting for clearance from the tower and able to sense his position normally, receives information about the position of his head correctly from the brain. Think erect position attitude. Once he is cleared for takeoff and applies power to the engine, the straight line acceleration acts on the inner ear along with gravity. The information the brain now sends to the pilot implies his head is tilted backward.
When the airplane becomes airborne and enters an environment not supported by vision (like a nice completely black environment over the ocean a short distance from the end of the runway at a coastal airport) it begins to climb, and, under climb power accelerates even more. The illusion that your head is tilted backward even more is caused by the increased acceleration of the plane as it continues to climb.
Remember the proprioceptors that are located in the muscles that send signals as whether you are leaning one way or another, etc. Well, since the actual attitude of your head is still erect, the brain sends signals to you that contradict the tilting of your head and reasons the nose of the airplane must have a higher than normal attitude position! Ahh! You're experiencing The Climbing too Fast Plane illusion. You experience this as a powerful nose up illusion when your actual climb is normal.
Like any pilot who experiences this illusion does, you push forward on the yoke or stick to correct the perceived "nose up" attitude of the plane. Guess what - when you push forward on the yoke the plane accelerates in the dive and the illusion intensifies. This results in a very powerful illusion that you may lose control of the aircraft. Before you have a chance to lose control you crash into the sea. Since this in response to an illusion the aircraft hits the water surface in a near level position at a high rate of speed. the result is a fatality of one or more folks.
If you experience this illusion it is imperative that your panel scan is increased and you note your aircraft attitude is what it should be to overcome the effect of the illusion.
Your brain receives continuous signals from the inner ear, gravity and proprioceptors to tell you the position of your head. Now introduce straight line acceleration. This may occur from a sudden increase in power and/or a sudden dive in a plane.
What type of message is sent to the brain when straight line acceleration takes place? The illusion is the conflict between where the head attitude position actually is and what the head attitude seems to be from the linear acceleration.
When you don't have visual reference (like the horizon) the brain doesn't receive information from the eyes that corrects the feeling that the head is tilted backwards rather than accelerated.
If you remember the post on diving an airplane with respect to what makes a plane become airborne. In a vertical dive there is still lift being produced that, when combined with the force of gravity produces a resultant force vector that moves the aircraft along its original linear path while diving. In the illusion under discussion gravity and linear acceleration produce a resultant force that the inner ear senses.
Remember, man is used to gravity and vision to determine the bodies attitude with respect to the surface of the earth. Now make the connection to the position of the head.
Without visual information, the resultant force from a straight line acceleration in a plane moves in a rearward direction that sends a signal to the brain that, just like on the earths surface tells you your head is tilted backward.
Suppose Mr. Kennedy, waiting for clearance from the tower and able to sense his position normally, receives information about the position of his head correctly from the brain. Think erect position attitude. Once he is cleared for takeoff and applies power to the engine, the straight line acceleration acts on the inner ear along with gravity. The information the brain now sends to the pilot implies his head is tilted backward.
When the airplane becomes airborne and enters an environment not supported by vision (like a nice completely black environment over the ocean a short distance from the end of the runway at a coastal airport) it begins to climb, and, under climb power accelerates even more. The illusion that your head is tilted backward even more is caused by the increased acceleration of the plane as it continues to climb.
Remember the proprioceptors that are located in the muscles that send signals as whether you are leaning one way or another, etc. Well, since the actual attitude of your head is still erect, the brain sends signals to you that contradict the tilting of your head and reasons the nose of the airplane must have a higher than normal attitude position! Ahh! You're experiencing The Climbing too Fast Plane illusion. You experience this as a powerful nose up illusion when your actual climb is normal.
Like any pilot who experiences this illusion does, you push forward on the yoke or stick to correct the perceived "nose up" attitude of the plane. Guess what - when you push forward on the yoke the plane accelerates in the dive and the illusion intensifies. This results in a very powerful illusion that you may lose control of the aircraft. Before you have a chance to lose control you crash into the sea. Since this in response to an illusion the aircraft hits the water surface in a near level position at a high rate of speed. the result is a fatality of one or more folks.
If you experience this illusion it is imperative that your panel scan is increased and you note your aircraft attitude is what it should be to overcome the effect of the illusion.
