Contents:

1. Night Vision

2. Visual Illusions

3. Disorientation

4. Hypoxia

5. Hyperventilation

1. Night Vision

• Dark Adaptation

• Your eyes need up to 30 minutes to adapt fully to the dark

• To keep your eyes adapted to the dark while flying:

• Avoid looking at bright lights

• Adjust instrument and cockpit lighting as low as possible

• Use a small, filtered flashlight or a light mounted in the aircraft for reading charts

• Avoid carbon monoxide exposure from exhaust fumes or smoking

• Use supplemental oxygen when flying at night a

• bove 5,000 feet

• Maintain a healthy diet and good physical health

• Off-Center Viewing

• To compensate for night blind spots:

• Continuously scan using a series of short, regularly spaced eye movements

• Use off-center viewing by looking 5" to 10" off the center of the object

2. Visual Illusions

• Visual Illusions

• Autokinesis - the false perception of movement by a single point of light against a dark background

• Focus your eyes on lit objects at varying distances

• Avoid fixating on one target

• Maintain a normal visual scan, shifting your gaze frequently

• Look at the light source with a stationary structure reference in your field of vision

• False Horizons - a false horizon occurs when the natural horizon is obscured or not readily apparent

• Rely on your instruments to maintain spatial orientation and situational awareness

• Landing Illusions

• Caused by a wide variety of factors:

• Downward sloping runways might lead you to fly your approach too high, while upward slopping runways might result in a dangerously low approach

• Because of a narrow runway's illusion of greater height, you might fly a lower approach than normal. A wide runway can have the opposite effect and produce higher-than-normal approaches

• Rain, haze, or a featureless terrain such as water or snow-covered ground can cause you to fly a lower-than-normal approach

• Penetration of fog can create the illusion of pitching up, which can cause you to steepen your approach

• Suspect landing illusion:

• Fly a normal traffic pattern

• Avoid long, straight-in approaches

• Take advantage of a visual glide path indicator to verify your landing approach angle

• Make your approach the same as you would during the daytime in good visual conditions

• Vection Illusions - occur when you detect motion where none is present

• The best way to compensate for vection illusions is to rely on your instruments, regardless of what your body believes it is experiencing

• Flicker Vertigo

• Caused by exposure to the low-freqyency flashing of relatively bright light

• To prevent flicker vertigo:

• Avoid looking at a light source through a propeller for any length of time

• Make frequency, but minor, changes in propeller speed

3. Disorientation

• Disorientation - Perceived position and motion relative to th earth's surface do not agree with reality

• your perception comes from three primary sensory inputs:

• Vision

• Kinesthetic sense

• Vestibular system

• Your susceptibility to disorientation increases with:

• Fatigue

• Anxiety

• Heavy pilot workload

• Consumption of alcohol or other drugs

• Vestibular Disorientation

4. Hypoxia

• Hypoxia - when the tissues in the body do not receive enough oxygen or when the body tissues are unable to use the available oxygen

• Common symptons:

• Headache

• Decreased reaction time

• Impaired judgment

• Euphoria

• Blurred vision

• Dizziness

• Drowsiness

• Loss of muscular power

• Lightheadedness

• Tingling in fingers and toes

• Numbness

• Blue fingernails and lips

• Unconsciousness

• Death

• Types of Hypoxia

• Preventing Hypoxia:

• Maintaining good physical condition

• Eating a nutritious diet

• Avoiding alcohol and smoking

• Avoid situations in which you must fly the aircraft manally in turbulent conditions for extended periods of time

• Keeping the cockpit temperature comfortable and stable

• Increasing altitude slowly?

• Flying at low altitudes where hypoxia is not a factor

• Using supplemental oxygen at higher altitudes

• Supplemental Oxygen
  

5. Hyperventilation

• Hyperventilation Symptoms:

• Headache?

• Decreased reaction time

• Impaired judgment

• Euphoria

• Visual impairment

• Drowsiness

• Lightheaded or dizzy sensation

• Tingling in fingers and toes

• Numbness

• Pale, clammy appearance

• Muscle spasm

• Treating Hyperventilation

• Slow your breathing rate back to normal?

• Breathe into a paper bag

• Talk aloud