Fed: Pilots will lose plot at least once in a career: report

AAP General News (Australia)
12-03-2007
Fed: Pilots will lose plot at least once in a career: report

CANBERRA, Dec 3 AAP - Pilots will become disorientated while flying at least once in
their career, which could lead to a loss of control of the aircraft, an Australian Transport
Safety Bureau report says.

Spatial disorientation - a condition where a pilot's perception of direction, altitude
and air speed in relation to the Earth is impaired - is one of the most common factors
in plane crashes.

Typically, it is a temporary condition resulting from flight in poor weather conditions
with low or no visibility.

Report author and aviation medicine expert Dr David Newman said spatial disorientation
was a very common problem.

"It is vitally important that pilots are aware that it can affect any pilot, any time,
anywhere, in any aircraft, on any flight, depending on the prevailing circumstances.

"It has been estimated that the chance of a pilot experiencing spatial disorientation
during their career is in the order of 90 to 100 per cent.

"In other words, if a pilot flies long enough as a career, or even a hobby, there is
almost no chance that he or she will escape experiencing at least one episode of spatial
disorientation."

Dr Newman was commissioned to explore the various types of spatial disorientation in
the aviation environment and to suggest strategies for managing the risk.

His report said the chances of a spatial disorientation event occurring in flight could
be reduced by a series of simple preventive measures, many of which could be attended
to before flight.

"These include flying when fit and well to do so, not flying under the influence of
alcohol or medications, avoiding visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions,
increasing awareness of spatial disorientation illusions and planning for their possible
appearance at different stages of flight in the pre-flight planning process," he said.

The report encouraged pilots who had had a spatial disorientation event to share their
experiences with aviation colleagues, either informally or through magazines, journals
and web-based forums.

AAP dep/rl/jh/de

KEYWORD: FLYING

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.