The biological mechanisms in the human body that track the body's orientation in relation to the surrounding environment evolved for a 2-dimensional environment, i.e., bipedal humans walking and running on the ground. When thrust into a 3-dimensional, e.g. humans flying in aircraft, these same structures are woefully unprepared and can cause spatial disorientation. The insidious nature of spatial disorientation is such that often a person does not realize that he/she is disoriented. When this occurs in aircraft it can and has resulted in incidents and the loss of aircraft, crew, and passengers. In response to these incidents, an effort has been made to develop demonstration scenarios in a Level D Boeing 747 simulator for both pitch and roll axis of which the pitch axis scenario is described herein. The focus was on non-visual somatogravic illusions. The scenario developed was for a missed approach/go-around in which a false sensation of pitch due to acceleration can occur. Formal simulator evaluations of the scenario consisted of fourteen pilots, two of whom were guest pilots from the Federal Aviation Administration, to evaluate the effectiveness of the spatial disorientation demonstration. Quantitative assessments and pilot opinions of the scenario indicated that the missed approach/go-around scenario developed successfully demonstrated the effects and gravitoinertial sensations of pitch axis spatial disorientation.
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