AFH 5-3

Task Saturation The margin of safety is the difference between task requirements and pilot capabilities. An upset and eventual LOC-I can occur whenever requirements exceed capabilities. For example, an airplane upset event that requires rolling an airplane from a near-inverted to an upright orientation may demand piloting skills beyond those learned during primary training. In another example, a fatigued pilot who inadvertently encounters IMC at night coupled with a vacuum pump failure, or a pilot fails to engage pitot heat while flying in IMC, could become disoriented and lose control of the airplane due to the demands of extended—and unpracticed—partial panel flight. Additionally, unnecessary low-altitude flying and impromptu demonstrations for friends or others on the ground could lead pilots to exceed their capabilities, with fatal results. Sensory Overload/Deprivation A pilot’s ability to adequately correlate warnings, annunciations, instrument indications, and other cues from the airplane during an upset can be limited. Pilots faced with upset situations can be rapidly confronted with multiple or simultaneous visual, auditory, and tactile warnings. Conversely, sometimes expected warnings are not provided when they should be; this situation can distract a pilot as much as multiple warnings can. The ability to separate time-critical information from distractions takes practice, experience, and knowledge of the airplane and its systems. Cross-checks are necessary not only to corroborate other information that has been presented, but also to determine if information might be missing or invalid. For example, a stall warning system may fail and therefore not warn a pilot of close proximity to a stall, so other cues need to be used to avert a stall and possible LOC-I. These cues include aerodynamic buffet, loss of roll authority, or inability to arrest a descent. Spatial Disorientation Spatial disorientation has been a significant factor in many airplane upset accidents. Accident data from 2008 to 2013 shows nearly 200 accidents associated with spatial disorientation with more than 70% of those being fatal. All pilots are susceptible to false sensory illusions while flying at night or in certain weather conditions. These illusions can lead to a conflict between actual attitude indications and what the pilot senses is the correct attitude. Disoriented pilots may not always be aware of their orientation error. Many airplane upsets occur while the pilot is engaged in some task that takes attention away from the flight instruments or outside references. Others perceive a conflict between bodily senses and the flight instruments, and allow the airplane to divert from the desired flightpath because they cannot resolve the conflict. A pilot may experience spatial disorientation or perceive the situation in one of three ways: 1. Recognized spatial disorientation: the pilot recognizes the developing upset or the upset condition and is able to safely correct the situation. 2. Unrecognized spatial disorientation: the pilot is unaware that an upset event is developing, or has occurred, and fails to make essential decisions or take any corrective action to prevent LOC-I. 3. Incapacitating spatial disorientation: the pilot is unable to affect a recovery due to some combination of: (a) not understanding the events as they are unfolding, (b) lacking the skills required to alleviate or correct the situation, or (c) exceeding psychological or physiological ability to cope with what is happening. For detailed information regarding causal factors of spatial disorientation, refer to Aerospace Medicine Spatial Disorientation and Aerospace Medicine Reference Collection, which provides spatial disorientation videos. The videos are available online at: www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/cami/library/online_libraries/aerospace_medicine/sd/videos/. Surprise and Startle Response Surprise is an unexpected event that violates a pilot’s expectations and can affect the mental processes used to respond to the event. Startle is an uncontrollable, automatic muscle reflex, raised heart rate, blood pressure, etc., elicited by exposure to a sudden, intense event that violates a pilot’s expectations. This human response to unexpected events has traditionally been underestimated or even ignored during flight training. The reality is that untrained pilots often experience a state of surprise or a startle response to an airplane upset event. Startle may or may not lead to surprise. Pilots can protect themselves against a debilitating surprise reaction or startle response through scenario-based training, and in such training, instructors can incorporate realistic distractions to help provoke startle or surprise. To be effective the controlled training scenarios should have a perception of risk or threat of consequences sufficient to elevate the pilot’s stress levels. Such scenarios can help prepare a pilot to mitigate psychological/physiological reactions to an actual upset.