Quote:
Originally Posted by Seahawk
This is a good article on vertigo and spacial disorientation. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2013/january/01/fly-well-oh-no-vertigo
A key sentence:
Unlike other in-flight emergencies such as cockpit fire or catastrophic engine failure, the spatially disoriented pilot does not perceive there is anything wrong. The aptly named graveyard spiral occurs after a bank; feeling the nose drop, the pilot pulls back to initiate a climb or reduce perceived rate of descent. A tighter turn ensues that magnifies the effect and leads to a stall, overstressing the aircraft or flying into the ground.
The SH-60B I have the most hours in is extremely stable and had an amazing trim system - NOT an auto pilot.
We had barometric altitude hold, trim hatches so you could basically fly the aircraft with your fingers, coupled hover, etc., etc.
Unfortunately, none of that matters if the onset of certain types of spacial disorientation occurs. |
That was my question, thanks.
At Airventure they used to have a cockpit that would spin, kind of like a scrambler fair ride that was fully enclosed and they would have you try to fly a route. That one never got me, but later in a sim (fortunately) I rolled inverted trying to catch the ILS. Sucks to get caught out like that.