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Optical Illusions and Spatial Disorientation in Aviation Pilots

  • Image & Signal Processing
  • Published:
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Abstract

Optical illusions are involved in the perception of false or erroneous images which might involve disorientation. They occur by a discordance by the peripheral systems about the information captured and generally, resulting in pilots failure to recognize key signals. The aim of this study is to review the state of the art of spatial disorientation and optical illusions in aviation pilots. This kind of disorientation has important practical consequences, because a remarkable percentage of plane accidents are related to pilot’s optical illusions. An exhaustive review using pubmed and semantic scholar databases was conducted to find out the most frequent optical illusions in aviation pilots. A total of 45 full text articles published English or Spanish were reviewed. To our knowledge, this is the first study to review exhaustively and describe the main factors involved in spatial disorientation and optical illusions affecting aviation pilots. Mainly, contextual factors: width of landing track lights, nocturnal operations or low visibility, inclination of the landing track, decline of the ground, size of habitual references, low level approach on the water, black hole, sky/terrain confusion, distortion by climatic factors, autokinesis or autocinetics, optional investment illusion, illusions by vection, false horizon, rain on the windshield, misalignment in the approach, vibrations, somatogravic illusion, coriolis illusion and “G” forces. In a lesser extent, human factors and pathologies of the visual systems involved in spatial disorientation and associated optical illusions affecting aviation pilots are also described. Discussion. Practical implications are further discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European University of Madrid, C/ Tajo s/n. 28670 Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain

    Miguel Ángel Sánchez-Tena, Cristina Alvarez-Peregrina & Mª Carolina Valbuena-Iglesias

  2. University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Pablo Ruisoto Palomera

Authors
  1. Miguel Ángel Sánchez-Tena
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  2. Cristina Alvarez-Peregrina
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  3. Mª Carolina Valbuena-Iglesias
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  4. Pablo Ruisoto Palomera
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Correspondence to Miguel Ángel Sánchez-Tena.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Image & Signal Processing.

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Sánchez-Tena, M.Á., Alvarez-Peregrina, C., Valbuena-Iglesias, M.C. et al. Optical Illusions and Spatial Disorientation in Aviation Pilots. J Med Syst 42, 79 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-018-0935-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-018-0935-4

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