Creating Spatial Disorientation in Flight Simulation

A study conducted by The Boeing Company of world-wide commercial jet transport accidents found the most common events to be loss of control associated with an inability of pilots to recover from upsets and unusual attitudes. A key component in some of these events is pilot spatial disorientation (SD). Improved pilot training in these abnormal flight conditions, including the ability of training simulators to replicate spatial disorientation, is needed to reduce loss of control accidents. Traditional commercial pilot training is conducted with hexapod-based motion systems that are limited in their ability to replicate the motion cues associated with these events. Given these short-comings, how can air carriers and other stakeholders be certain that there is positive transfer of training regarding spatial disorientation from the simulator to flight? To address this question, a team led by Systems Technology, Inc. (STI) is developing the Spatial Disorientation – Transfer of Training Assessment Library (SDTOTAL) software application that provides tools to quantify the ability of flight simulators to create spatial disorientation in FAA Level D Certified simulators. Furthermore, the SD-TOTAL approach will include a selfadministered computer-based training module that will introduce pilots to spatial disorientation prior to experiencing the effects in the simulator.