(Photo by Adam Kurtz/UND Today)
(By Adam Kurtz. UND Today) – A recent Federal Aviation Administration recommendation is shining a spotlight on one of aviation’s most persistent safety challenges: spatial disorientation.
And at UND’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, faculty and staff have for decades been training pilots to recognize and manage the condition — long before the issue gained national attention.
“This is something we’ve been teaching for a very long time,” said Tom Zeidlik, aerospace physiologist at UND. “The big deal about this is that now the FAA has recognized that this training has to happen.”
The FAA’s Information for Operators (InFO) 26003 encourages operators and training programs to incorporate spatial disorientation training into standard pilot education. The guidance applies primarily to training pilots, general aviation, corporate, charter and helicopter operations, not scheduled airlines, and reflects growing concern over the role of human factors in aviation accidents.
“At UND, that training is already well established and exceeds what the FAA now recommends,” Zeidlik said.
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