General Aviation Joint Safety Committee
CFIT Working Group
Outreach Guidance Document
2023/10-29-294(I)PP
This outreach guidance is provided to all FAA and aviation industry groups that are participating in outreach efforts sponsored by the General Aviation Joint Safety Committee (GAJSC). It is important that all outreach on a given topic is coordinated and is free of conflicts. Therefore, all outreach products should be in alignment with the outline and concepts listed below for this topic.
Outreach Month: October 2025
Topic: Vestibular Illusions
The FAA and industry will conduct a public education campaign emphasizing the dangers of Vestibular Illusions and best practices for coping with illusions in flight.
Background:
GAJSC study of Fatal General Aviation Loss of Control Accidents found that a significant number may have been caused by inappropriate pilot response to illusions.
A basic understanding of Human Information Processing, Sensing, and Illusions, together with scenario-based flight training may reduce the frequency of Illusion-triggered LOC accidents.
Teaching Points:
- How humans perceive their relationship to the flight environment can result in inappropriate control input.
- In-flight illusions can precipitate inappropriate control inputs.
- Education and training in coping with in-flight illusions can improve pilot response to illusions.
- Vestibular Illusions are particularly dangerous because they can lead to loss of aircraft control.
References:
- Vestibular Illusions PowerPoint
- Available on the National FAASTeam Share Point site under Approved Resources.
- Pilot Information on Aeromedical Certification
- Human Factors for Pilots – on line courses on FAASafety.gov
- Module 3 – Human Performance
- Module 9 – Human Information Processing
