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Old 20th Mar 2016, 06:54
  #237 (permalink)  
Centaurus
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
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The Somatogravic Illusion is a complicated sounding name, but all it really means is that linear acceleration can fool you into thinking you are pitching up when you are actually pitching over into a dive. If you pull up too steeply on the initial go around and need to pitch over a bit to maintain airspeed, you must use your attitude indicator to make the adjustment. If you get behind the aircraft and unconsciously start flying by the seat of your pants, you can get yourself in trouble very quickly. Modern twin jets are capable of pretty good acceleration rates, especially when light. More than enough to cause that Somatogravic Illusion effect in an unsuspecting aircrew.
With all the jet transport go-arounds in one day around the world and add to that all the catapult assisted take offs of jet fighters from aircraft carriers around the world every day and night, you would think there would be hundreds of crashes due to Somatogravic illusions. But obviously there are not.

Often the sort of airline transport crashes we are seeing where an IMC go-around has turned into a steep climb followed by a stall and dive into the ground, turn out in the end to be nothing more than poor instrument flying ability by the pilot.

Somatogravic Illusions are often used as the catch-all excuse for crashes like these because it's hard to believe there are airline pilots out there simply cannot fly on instruments when most of their career has been watching an autopilot do its work.
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