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Continued VFR into IMC is when an aircraft operating under visual flight rules intentionally or unintentionally enters into instrument meteorological conditions.Flying an aircraft without visual reference to the ground can lead to a phenomenon known as spatial disorientation, which can cause the pilot to misperceive the angle, altitude, and speed at which the aircraft is traveling.
Spatial orientation (the inverse being spatial disorientation, aka spatial-D) is the ability to maintain body orientation and posture in relation to the surrounding environment (physical space) at rest and during motion. Humans have evolved to maintain spatial orientation on the ground.
The leans is the most common type of spatial disorientation for aviators. Through stabilization of the fluid in the semicircular canals, a pilot may perceive straight and level flight while actually in a banked turn. This is caused by a quick return to level flight after a gradual, prolonged turn that the pilot failed to notice.
FAA Pilot Safety Brochures – Spatial Disorientation (pdf) FAA Pilot Safety Brochures – Spatial Disorientation – Visual Illusions (pdf) Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, Chapter 17: Aeromedical factors
Graveyard spirals are the result of several sensory illusions in aviation which may occur in actual or simulated IMC, when the pilot experiences spatial disorientation and loses awareness of the aircraft's attitude. The pilot loses the ability to judge the orientation of their aircraft due to the brain's misperception of spatial cues.
The subject is placed in the swivel chair, blindfolded, then spun about the vertical axis while keeping their head upright or tilted forward or to the side. The subject is then asked to perform tasks such as determine their direction of rotation while blindfolded, or rapidly change the orientation of their head, or attempt to point at a stationary object without blindfold after the chair is ...
The National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others last January has been closed.The ...
Continued VFR flight into IMC can lead to spatial disorientation of the pilot which is the cause of a significant number of general aviation crashes. VFR flight into IMC is distinct from "VFR-on-top", an IFR procedure in which the aircraft operates in VMC using a hybrid of VFR and IFR rules, and "VFR over the top", a VFR procedure in which the ...