Agree with your three points of how pilots get into trouble. I also agree that training is important, and that it's never a bad idea to take a ride with an instructor.

I'm not sure I buy your theory of an optical illusion in your peripheral vision causing your central vision and inner ear to start giving you bad data, though. It takes time (probably a minute) without good visual cues for your inner ear to start disconnecting from reality. Your central vision looking over the nose will provide good feedback to your inner ear even if there is a peripheral mirage, so I think your balance and motion sensation will remain OK.

That said, I can understand someone deciding to focus with central vision on something seen peripherally, but unless they decide to fixate on it (thus causing your errors 1 and 3) I don't see it as a problem because if you look over the nose again you'll perceive that you're OK. Thus my comment many messages before that "Just because you perceive something doesn't mean that you have to pay attention to it".

Perhaps you and I should take rides with instructors this spring, see if wing motion reversal down low causes either of us problems, and then compare notes.

-John, Q3

On Wednesday, March 5, 2014 3:33:08 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 5, 2014 12:24:51 PM UTC-8, wrote:
Visual perception is certainly not the only thing. I do think it is how most pilots interpolate between references to the airspeed and yaw string.. Generally that scan cycle is a pretty rapid loop and wandering into stall/spin is not a big risk. I do believe that pilots get into trouble because, for one reason or another, they: 1) don't update the scan, 2) misinterpret what the instruments are telling them or 3) fail to act. I'd bet that #1 is the main thing - possibly due to distraction, fixation, overload or other reasons. When this happens your central and peripheral vision (and your inner ear) are how you maintain attitude and airspeed and that can drift, but also can be fooled if the visual cues are different than what you get 99% of the time when you are flying above a couple hundred feet. Why is this important to know? Because if you know and train to recognize that the cues will push to towards a skidding turn that is too slow you have a better chance of checking yourself before you do something based on instincts honed by flying at altitude that down low can kill you.

I do not know how strong these effects are but a ride with a competent check pilot/instructor might be able to inform how strong the tendency is.

That's my theory anyway.

9B

BTW, that's one reason why I tend to carry a bit more airspeed until I'm on final (like Kirk). I know that if I get a surprise or distraction on the turn to final with a bigger speed margin I will have more time to sort the distraction before airspeed bleeds off. That works in my -27. I don't do it in a Duo.

9B