ASI News
Up is down
What to do when you can only believe your eyes
By Alicia Herron
What is spatial disorientation? Why do you, as a student pilot, need to know about it?
Spatial disorientation is the mistaken perception of your position and motion relative to the Earth. More simply, any time the instruments say one thing and the signals from your body tell you that something different is happing, you are experiencing spatial disorientation. You might see a turn on the instruments, but feel straight and level, or vice versa. These warring senses can lead a pilot to put in controls to “correct” a flight attitude that doesn’t exist, and subsequently lead to loss of control. Any condition that deprives a pilot of natural, visual references to maintain orientation can rapidly cause spatial disorientation.
We tend to think that lack of visual reference means in the clouds. Since you fly VFR, does that mean that you’re immune to spatial disorientation? No. The flight rules you operate under don’t preclude susceptibility to disorientation. Flying in the clouds is serious business, but haze, darkness, or indistinct terrain (like flight over water) also can create conditions that lead to disorientation.
The FAA requires private pilot applicants to receive at least three hours of instrument training. Those three hours are there to teach you the basics, and to give you enough skill to be able to maintain control over the airplane in an emergency (yes, VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions is an emergency if you’re not proficient in instrument flight), and reverse course. Disabuse yourself of the dangerously false idea that you, with just a few hours of instrument training, are capable of prolonged flight in instrument meteorological conditions. You aren’t.
A great way to gain respect for spatial disorientation is to feel it yourself under controlled conditions. Ask your instructor to spatially disorient you aloft (in VMC, of course) or try it in a simulator—even partial motion sims have been known to cause disorientation.
No pilot of any certificate level or experience is immune to spatial disorientation, but further training in instrument flight will make you safer should you encounter unexpected IMC or IMC-like conditions. For now, focus on achieving your private pilot certificate, but consider adding on an instrument rating in the future. While flying, develop and maintain respect for the unique conditions that can cause spatial disorientation.
Industry News
New ‘TRAC’ trainer from Cirrus
Is that a landing gear lever?
By Dave Hirschman
A landing gear handle looks wholly out of place on a fixed-gear Cirrus SR20, but it’s there for a very good reason.
“This airplane’s mission is to prepare flight students for careers as professional pilots,” said Ivy McIver, Cirrus Aircraft’s director for the SR product line, as she introduced the company’s TRAC training aircraft. “This puts landing gear into their flow from the very beginning, and it helps prepare them for the larger, faster airplanes they’re likely to fly next.”
In addition to the landing gear lever with position lights that the instructor can slyly fail at the touch of a hidden button, TRAC aircraft come with a radio transmit switch in the back so that student observers can be involved in air traffic control communications; durable seat material that doesn’t scuff and is easy to clean; a four-cylinder, 215-horsepower Lycoming IO-390 engine; analog backup instruments; and external decals with text that shows preflight inspection items such as oil quantity, tire pressure, and static source locations.
As with other Cirrus models, the TRAC airplanes contain safety equipment such as airframe parachutes and airbag seatbelts.
“We have a lot of years in the flight training world,” McIver said. “We took feedback from the universities, airline training departments, and flight schools and incorporated their priorities in TRAC aircraft. We want to dispel the myth in the market that we only sell million-dollar luxury airplanes.”
TRAC SR20s have a base price of $410,000. They will compete with Piper Aircraft, whose Pilot 100i instrument trainer has a list price of $285,000. Cirrus also plans to offer more powerful SR22 and SR22T TRAC versions for future step-ups.
Lufthansa, Emirates, and Austrian airlines all use Cirrus SR20s in their ab initio pilot training programs, as do many U.S. college aviation programs. The U.S. Air Force and French navy also use them for pilot screening.
TRAC instrument panels contain two-screen Garmin NXi glass displays with a keyboard flight management system designed to get flight students accustomed to highly integrated avionics suites early in their training.
“The global demand for pilots is surging and the pilot supply is shrinking,” McIver said. “The FMS and its integration with the flight deck and automation are things you see in bigger aircraft. This airplane is designed to help students transition to bigger aircraft more quickly.”
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