I'm not a pilot either, PW, but I've been through several of the physio classes required for military aircrews. One item of training is a spacial disorientation simulator. It induces the inner ear disorientation like almost certainly happened to JFKJr. If you hear about 'pilot error' being the cause of the accident, don't hold it against him -- it is as natural as bleeding when you cut your finger. What happens is that "up" and "down" become meaningless, and what 'feels' like straight and level may be a 60 degree turning dive. To compound things, it requires intense concentration because all the mixed physical cues the brain receives causes considerable confusion. If his passengers were chirping at him while he was experiencing spacial d., it would just add to the confusion.
I don't know how his acft was instrumented, but if he didn't have a gyro/artificial horizon indicator, he may not have even had the minimum input as to which way was up. Some magnetic compasses "float" in liquid, and will help indicate whether he was in a coordinated turn or not, as would an older turn & slip indicator. But, they very well might not have provided the right instrument cues for him to decypher (eg, compass tilted right, and slip ball also pegged to the right). If that were the case, without an HSI (Horizontal Situation Indicator), even an experienced pilot could have augered it in.
To all the whiners: my most sincere apologies for this partisan, radical, and off topic reply to PW.
jim |
