Oxygen and pressure
Hypoxia is insidious: euphoria and degraded judgement arrive before any sense of breathlessness. Time of useful consciousness falls from minutes at 25,000 ft to seconds above 35,000 ft. Hyperventilation looks similar but comes with tingling and spasm; the fix is to slow the breathing and talk.
Vestibular illusions
The leans, somatogravic illusion on acceleration (feels like a pitch up, tempting a dangerous push-over on a dark night take-off) and the black-hole approach illusion have all killed capable pilots. In poor visual conditions, believe the instruments and cross-check them against each other.
Vision and workload
The eye has a blind spot and needs about 30 minutes to fully dark-adapt. Scan in short, deliberate blocks rather than sweeping — the eye can only detect traffic while it is stationary. Empty-field myopia in haze focuses the eye a few metres ahead unless you deliberately focus on distant objects.
Decision making
Use a structured model — IMSAFE for personal fitness, PAVE for the flight, and a simple gate system for weather and fuel decisions. The hazardous attitudes (anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, resignation) each have a stated antidote; naming them out loud in the cockpit is a surprisingly effective defence.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- ▸Hypoxia degrades judgement before you feel short of breath.
- ▸Somatogravic illusion: acceleration feels like a pitch-up — trust the attitude indicator.
- ▸IMSAFE for the pilot, PAVE for the flight.
Check-ride
Six questions from this module. Score 70% or better to have it signed off in your training record.