Visual Spatial Disorientation: Re-Visiting the Black Hole Illusion

Visual Spatial Disorientation: Re-Visiting the Black Hole Illusion

Publication info
Author
Col. Randall W. Gibb
Category
Controlled Flight Into Terrain
Date of publication
24/01/2007
Date for review
24/01/2019

The black hole illusion (BHI), a specific type of featureless terrain illusion, is a leading type of visual SD experienced by pilots. A BHI environment refers not to the landing runway but the environment surrounding the runway and the lack of ecological cues for a pilot to proceed visually. The problem is that pilots, despite the lack of visual cues, confidently proceed with a visual approach.

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