On Sun, 10 Sep 2006 19:44:30 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:

Roger (K8RI) writes:

That is because most of us are used to tactile feed back.

No, it's because some simulators are so realistic that one forgets
that it's just a simulation. This is most common with full-motion
simulators, but motion is not necessarily required.

Well, two things here. As Emily said, the problem is spatial
disorientation. Nearly all of us get it and having flown even several
thousand hours does not make you immune to it. Those hours do help
acclimate you to it which allows you to deal with it is a safe and
timely manner. Actually spatial disorientation is with us constantly
and the motion is far more important when flying IFR than VFR.

As to the realism. I've had quite a few sims over the years including
two right now that could be used for training IF I had an instructor
and the instructor's console. Even though the publishers have gone to
great lengths to make it to quote MS "As real as it gets", it is still
a long way from feeling real.

You don't get flicker vertigo, or the leans, or even a false horizon
in a sim and those are with us on a day-to-day basis IRL. Make a 360
degree turn to the left and straighten out. The body will immediately
see this as a left turn followed by a right turn and that is a normal
reaction. It *should* do that. Even a slight bank is felt as a turn.
Without visual clues (looking out the window) the body becomes acutely
aware of these sensations. For many pilots it takes many hours before
they can ignore that feeling and follow the instruments. Some never
reach the point of safely handeling them.

Actually you can do the same while simming with three large screens so
you have all the visual cues and no physical. Eyes and sense of
balance don't agree...instant queasy.

From what I've read, queasiness sets in from a variety of causes and
the exact mechanism isn't known. I've never been queasy in

"Primarily" air sickness comes from the mind getting confused due to
conflicting inputs between the eyes and the other senses and
particularly the sense of balance. Some forms are understood. It's
more of a "not all causes of motion sickness are understood" or why
some people are far more sensitive than others.

Spatial disorientation exists across a wide range from a slight
turning sensation to full blown vertigo. The leans which has been
mentioned as being quite common and experienced by most pilots can be
induced from simple variations in light intensity to varying
accelerations through turbulence or just making turns.

Every one should experience the FAA's "vertigo chair". You can do the
same thing in an office chair, but you need a couple of good size
helpers to catch you for safety.

The "vertigo chair" is elegant in its simplicity.

The victim..er subject sets in the chair and is blindfolded. The
subject is to point in the direction they think they are turning. At
this point helpers start turning the chair. The subject immediately
points in the proper direction. The chair is "spun up" to a reasonable
rate, but not what I'd call fast. As the spin reaches a steady state
the subject will indicate the chair is slowing, stopped, and then
rotating in the opposite direction. If you slow the chair they will
indicate it is speeding up in the opposite direction.

The interesting part comes when you hold the steady state long enough
for them to indicate the chair is now stopped. Now comes the need for
those helpers. The chair is stopped quickly and the subject will go
over the arm of the chair even though they'd do nothing more than lean
a little were they not blindfolded. This was the reason for the
helpers. The keep the subject from getting hurt.

simulations, because the scenery just isn't moving fast enough (and if

Unfortunately it raises the cost considerably, but if you go the route
of multiple monitors with 3 wide screens being best to simulate IRL
VFR your visual senses are properly stimulated. You will find, among
other things due to the added visual realism, you will lean in the
turns and you will feel a sense of light headedness with a push over
after a climb.

it were, that would probably be a bad sign). Playing Doom has
nauseated me on a number of occasions, though, and watching _The Blair
Witch Project_ did the same.

Doom is just fast paced. The Witch Project is similar to flicker
vertigo. Fast switching between scenes and erratic camera motion
produce just too much changing information for the brain to process in
a logical manner, or even keep up. That logical manner is one key
part. The subconscious will always try to make sense out of things
and make order out of disorder. When there is no logical sense, or
order to the input the subconscious will still try to turn that input
into a logical order. If it can't it'll go into overload and nearly
every one can reach the point of overload sooner or later.
Instrument students just starting out tend to be on the sooner
side...*much* sooner:-))

Presumably if you're flying the plane it greatly diminishes the
chances of motion sickness. I think it's the ability to understand

To some it do and some it don't. It does for me as I do not ride well.
I can do basic aerobatics with little problem although its been quite
a while. OTOH riding with some one practicing their basic PPL
maneuvers such as steep turns, S-turns, turns around a point, and
stalls can get me a bit queasy in a hurry
..
the movement that is more important than the ability to feel it; that
is, if the movement you see or feel corresponds to something your
brain can figure out, you won't get sick.

I believe that to be true to at least some extent for some of us. I've
been on a commercial flight where it was so rough there were only
about 10 of us who didn't get sick. The guy beside me was reading a
news paper until it got so rough he couldn't keep his place. It didn't
seem to bother him a bit. Man, but I was glad he was the one sitting
next to me and not someone with their head in a bag.

The point is that it's the motion and learning to ignore normal body
reactions in addition to the technical parts that makes instrument
flying difficult. Sims are very good for the technical part, but much
of the reality of real world flight is missing from the best of them.
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com