VISUAL ILLUSIONS

Introduction

1. Under normal circumstances, whether in the air or on the ground our

appreciation of which way is `up' and which way is `down' is dependent on the
direction of the earth's gravitational field. There are three methods by which we can
assess our orientation relative to surface of earth during flight :

(a) Vision In flight we recognize the appearance of the earth's surface and
distinguish it readily from the sky.

(b) Touch or Pressure Sense The various muscles of joints of neck, trunk, limbs
or the "seat of the pants" give us the sensation which help us in orienting.

(c) Vestibular Organs These comprise of the organs of balance situated in the ear
on either side of the head. Each vestibular organ consists of three semicircular
canals and otolith organs.

2. Spatial disorientation occurs when any one or more of these senses give false
cues or are interpreted wrongly by our brain. By far the most important of these
`orientation triad' is the eye or vision. There are however times when our eyes may
mislead us. The visual cues may give us false perception of our position, attitude or
motion relative to the plane of the earth's surface The illusions caused by the false
interpretation of vision is termed Visual Illusions. The subject of my lecture today is
visual illusions. I shall be covering the subject under the following heads :-

(a) Introduction

(b) Visual information Processing

(c) Misinterpretation of Focal Visual Cues

(d) Lack of Focal Visual Cues

(e) Lack of Peripheral Visual Cues

(f) False peripheral cues

(g) False visual cues

(h) Auto Kinesis

(j) Conclusion.

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Visual Information Processing
3. There are actually two se perate visual systems and they
have two seperate functions : object recognition and spatial orientation. A
knowledge of these systems is important, both to help in understanding visual
illusions in flight and to appreciate the difficulties inherent in using flight instruments
for spatial orientation.

Anatomy of the Visual System

4. The retina of a human eye consists of sensony cells called Rods and Cones.
The Cones, which number approximately 7 million in the human eye, have a
relatively high threshold to light energy. They are responsible for sharp visual
discrimination and clour vision. The Rods of which there are over 100 million, are
much more sensitive to light than the cones; they provide the ability to see in twilight
and at night. In the centre of retina the cone population achieves its greatest density
whereas the greatest density of Rods is around 15° to 20° off-centre.

5. The two different fucntions of object recognition and spatial orientation are
carried out by the two seperate visual systems namely the focal visual system and
the peripheral visual system.

(a) Focal Visual System : Focal vision is not primarily involved with orienting the
individual in the environment but is used in some instances to acquire visual
information about orientation. Focal visual cues provide the primary means by
which judgement of distance and depth are made. The focal visual cues are as
follows :-
(i) Size Constancy The size of retinal image in relation to known size of objects.

(ii) Shape Constancy The shape of the image in relation to known shape of object
for example the foreshortening of the known shape of a circle into an elliptical
image.

(iii) Motion Parallax The relative speed of movement of imagesacross the retina for
example when an individual is moving linearly in his environment, the retinal images
of nearer objects move faster than those further away.

(iv) Interposition The partial obstruction from view of more distant objects by
nearer ones.

(v) Linear Perspective The convergence of parallel lines at a distance.

(vi) Illumination Perspective This results from the tendency to perceive the light
source to be above an object and from association of more deeply shaded parts of
the object with being farther away from the light source.

(vii) Aerial Perspective The perception of objects to be more distant when the
image is relatively bluish or hazy. Of all the cues listed, size and shape constancy

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and motion parallax are most important in deriving distance information in flying.
(b) Peripheral Visual System Peripheral or ambient vision is primarily involved
with orienting the individual in the environment. This function is completely
independent of the function of focal vision. The function of ambient vision in
orientation can be thought of as two processes, one providing motion cues
and the other providing position cues. Large coherently moving contrasts detected
mainly with peripheral vision results in a percept of self motion
or vection. If the moving contrasts revolve relative to the individual, he perceives
retational self motion or angular Vection which can be in the pitch yaw or roll or any
intermediate plane.

6. Having seen how the visual information is processed now lets see how the
misinterpretation of these visual cues can leed to Visual illusions.

Misinterpretation of Focal Visual Cues

7. Focal visual cues provide the primary means by which judgement of distance
and depth are made. There are some, circumstances when very strong focal cues
can lead to misperception of aerial perspective. Following are a few examples.

(a) Effect of Runway Slope The viewfoil shows the pilots view of the runway
during on approach to landing and demonstrates the linear prespective and
foreshortening of the runway that the pilot associates with a 3 degree approach
slope. If the runway slopes upward, the foreshortening of the runway for a pilot on a
3° apaproach slope is substantially less than it would be if the runway were level.
This can give the pilot the illusion that he is too high on approach. The pilot's natural
response to such an illusion is to reshape his image of the runway by seeking a
shallower approach. The opposite will result from runway that is sloping downward.
Similar illusion will occur because of different length of runway.

(b) Effect of Width of Runway A runway that is narrower than that to which a pilot
is accustomed also can create a hazardous illusion on the approach. Size
constancy causes the pilot to perceive the narrow runway to be longer and further
away (that is he is higher) than is actually the case and he may flare out too late and
touch down sooner than he expects. Likewise a runway that is wider than what a
pilot is used to can lead him to believe that he is closer to the runway and he may
flare out too high and this may result in a hard landing. This is the reason that when
landing on the parallel taxy track (less width) pilots tend to delay the flare out and
during night flying, there is a tendency to flare out high as the runway lights are
generally out side the runway.

(c) Effect of Terrain Slope The slope and composition of the terrain under the
approach path also influences the pilots judgement of his height above the touch
down point. If the terrain descends to the approach end of the runway, or if there
are higher obstructions on the approach path than what pilot is used to, he will tend
to fly a steeper approach than he would if the terrain were level.

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Lack of Focal Visual Cues
8. Lack of focal visual cues or inadequacy of them can cause illusions such as :-

(a) Smooth Water Approach A seaplane pilot's perception of height is degraded

substantially when the water below is still.

(b) Snow Covered Approach A blanket of soft fresh snow on ground also
deprives the pilot visual cues with which to estimate his height, thus making his
approach difficult, especially if that runway is also covered with snow.

(c) Effect of Reduced Visibility In daytime, fog or haze can make the runway
appear further away as a result of visual discrimination.

Lack of Peripheral Visual Cues

9. Some examples of illusions caused by misinterpretation of peripheral visual
cues are as follows :

(a) Misperception of Closure Rate Lack of adequate peripheral cues is apt to

cause a serious misjudgement of the closure rate if an ac is closing in onto another
ac at a fast rate. When the pilot has sufficient peripheral cues (like on ground) he
can readily establish both his own position and velocity relative to the earth and the
target's position and velocity relative to the earth and therefore tracking and closing
in is not a problem. When relative position and closure rate cues must come from
focal vision alone, however, as is generally the case at altitude, at night or under
conditions of reduced visibility, judgement of closure rate gets highly impaired and
may lead to an overshoot or mid-air collision.

(b) Black Hole Approach A black hole approach is one that is made on a dark
night over water or unlighted terrain to a runway beyond which the horizon is
indiscernible, the worst case being when only the runway lights are visible. Without
peripheral cues to help him orientate himself relative to the earth, the pilot tends to
feel he is appropriately situated but that the runway itself is moving about. A
particularly hazardous approach is made under conditions where in earth is totally
dark except for the runway and lights of a city on rising terrain beyond the runway.
Under these condtions the pilot may try to maintain a constant vertical visual angle
for the distant city lights. Thus causing his ac to arc far below the intended
approach slope as he gets closer to the runway.

(c) White out Approach There are two types of white outs, the atmospheric
whiteout and the blowing-snow whiteout. In the atmospheric whiteout a snow
covered ground merges with a white overcast, creating a condition in which ground
textural cues are absent and the horizon is indistinguishable. An approach made in
this condition must therefore be accomplished with a close eye on the instruments to
prevent spatial disorientation and inadvertant ground contact. In the blowing-snow
whiteout,visibility is restricted drastically by snowflakes and often these snowflakes
have been driven into the air by the propeller or rotorwash of the affected ac.
Helicopter landings on snowcovered ground are particularly likely to cause blowing
snow whiteouts. Practically the helicopter pilot tries to maintain visual contact with

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the ground during the sudden rotor induced whieteout, gets into an unrecognized
drift (due to looking through sides) to one side and shortly thereafter contacts the
ground with sufficient lateral motion to cause the ac to roll over.

False Peripheral Cues (Vection)

10. Vection is the visually induced perception of motion of self in the spatial
environment and can be a sensation of linear motion (linear vection) or angular
motion (angular vection).

(a) Linear Vection If a passenger is sitting in a stationary train and the train on the
adjacent track begins to move he can experience the strong sensation that his own
train is moving in the opposite direction. Linear Vection is one of the factors that
makes close formation flying so difficult because the pilot can never be sure whether
his own ac or that of his lead is responsible for the relative motion of his ac.
(b) Angular Vection Angular vection occurs when peripheal visual cues convey
the information that one is rotating. The perceived motion can be in roll, pitch yaw
or in any other plane. A pilot can experience angular vection if the rotating anti
collision light is left on during flight through clouds or fog. The revolving reflection
produces a strong stimulus signalling rotation in the plane of yaw. The most
advanced flight simulators depend on linear and angular vection to create the
illusions of flight. When the visual flight environment is dynamically portrayed in
wide-field-of-view flight simulators, the illusion of actual flight is so complete and
compelling that additional mechanical motion is rendered superfluous.

False Visual Cues

11. Often the horizon perceived through peripheral vision is not really horizontal.
Quite naturally, this misperception of the horizon causes hazards to flight. A sloping
cloud deck for example is very difficult to perceive as anything but horizontal if it
extends to any great distance in the pilots peripheral vision. Similarly uniformly
sloping terrain can create an illusion prompting the pilot to maintain wings livel with
respect to it.

12. A distant rain shower can obscure the real horizon and create the impression of
horizon at the base of the rainfall.

13. Pilots are especially suceptible to misperception of the horizon during night
flying. Isolated ground lights can appear to the pilot as stars and this may cause him
to think he is in a nose high or one wing low attitude. Frequently no stars are visible
because of overcast conditions. Unlighted area of terrain can then blend with the
dark overcast to create the illusion that the unlighted terrain is part of the sky. In
such cases a cross check with the flight instruments will soon orient the pilot.

14. Pilots flying at high altitude can sometimes experience difficulties with control of
ac attitude because at high altitudes the horizon is lower with respect to the plane of
level flight than it is at altitude where most pilots are accustomed to flying.
Approximately the angle of depression of the horizon in degrees equals the square
root of altitude in KM. A pilot flying at 16 km altitude thus sees horizon 4° below the
extension of his lateral axis. If he visually orients to the view from his left side he
might be inclined to fly with left wing 4° below the horizon.

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Autokinesis

15. One puzzling illusion that occurs when visual orientational cues are minimal is
visual autokinessis. A small dim light seen against a dark background is an ideal
stimulus for producing autokinesis. After 6 to 12 seconds of visually fixating the
light, the pilot can observe it to move at anywhere between 0.2 and 20°/s in one
particular direction or in several directions in succession. In general the larger and
brighter the object the less the autokinetic effect. Because of this illusion lots of
pilots mistake a stationary light or a fixed star as an ac as it appears to move and
may even try to intercept or join up with it. On the other hand if he is actually
intercepting an ac at night, the ac may appear to be moving erratically when in fact it
is not. The pilot may make unnecessary and undesirable inputs to compensate for
the illusion causing an operational hazard.

Conclusion

16. An orientational illusion is a false percept of one's position, attitude or motion

relative to the plane of the earths surface. A great number of orientational illusions
occur in flight ; some named, others unnamed; some understood others not
understood. In this lecture today I have made an attempt to familiarize you with the
various conditions and flight operations that may lead to visual illusions and to
explain to you the mechanism by which they are produced. A knowledge of this will
keep you better prepared when you encounter any such illusion.

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 SUPER STALL

Introduction

1. In the past a number of valuable high performance ac and some precious lives
were lost in air accidents believed to have been caused by super stall. If the persent
generation of supersonic ac with highly swept wings and high wing loadings are
operated without a thorough understanding of the phenomenon of super stall
disaster could easily befall. Today I will cover this subject of superstall in detail.

Conventional Stall

2. An ac requires lift to maintain straight and level flight that is L = W = C L 1/2 V2s.
Since 1/2 S is constant at a particular height, L C L.V2. If the speed is reduced V2
reduces and CL needs to be increased by increasing angle of attack. Reduction in
V2 can be offset by increasing CL till the stalling angle is reached. Thereafter the C L
drops and level flight can not be maintained. When stall occurs an ac is unable to
maintain height, till it is unstalled and enough lift generated to support the weight of
the ac.

Lift : Conventional Aircraft

3. If we study the CL curve for conventional ac we find that there is a uniform

increase in CL with AOA and that there is a well marked peak where C L max occurs.
If angle of attack is increased beyond this there is a sudden drop in C L. The CL max
usually occurs at AOA of about 15 to 16°.

Lift : High Performance Aircraft

4. Modern high performance aircraft have swept back wings of low aspect ratios,
low t/c ratios and high wing loadings. Such design feature enable the ac to fly faster
because of reduced drag at high speeds. But low speed handling becomes trickier
due to high AOA and ac operating close to C L max. If we compare the
CL curve of a typical swept wing high performance ac with that of a conventional
aircraft we find that :-

(a) Slope of the CL curve is shallow

(b) The CL max is lower

(c) The CL max is not well defined

(d) The CL max occurs at very high AOA. The CL curve flattens out at high AOA
and consequently at high AOA increase in angle of attack does not cause any
significant increase in CL.

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Drag : Conventional Aircraft

5. In a conventional ac the CD increases gradually till the stalling angle. Near the
stalling AOA the CD increases rapidly
as a result of airflow seperation. The total drag of the ac till minimum IAS as
dictated by stall is usually less than the thrust available. Hence the minimum speed
for fly ing is governed by the stall due to airflow seperation and not by the thrust
available at low speeds.

Drag : High Performance Aircraft

6. In a high performance ac C D increases gradually at low angles of attack but

increases sharply at higher AOA. This is due to the high induced drag and greater
frontal area presented to the airflow. Unlike conventional aircraft this drag increase
occurs well below the stalling angle is reached. Thus the total drag of the ac
increases phenomenally at low speeds and is usually greater than the thrust
available even before the stalling angle is reached. Thus the minimum flying speed
of the high performance ac is governed by the thrust available and not by the wing
stall due to airflow seperation as in the case of a conventional ac.

Stability at the Stall

7. When an ac stalls a loss of height occurs, thus an upward component of airflow

is intoduced. This upward component causes an increase in angle of attack and the
ac would tend to remain stalled as long as it continues to lose hight. However as
soon as the ac stalls the CP moves sharply back. Also the area aft of CG is greater
than the area ahead of it. When the ac sinks a nose down pitching moment is
caused due to the greater area aft of the CG. This together with the rearward
movement of the C of P causes the nose to pitch down, thereby reducing the AOA.
In conventional ac the reduction in angle of attack so caused is faster than increase
in AOA due to loss of height. Consequently a conventional ac can unstall on its own
even if the pilot holds the stick fully back, provided that antorotation does not
commence. Such is not the case in most of the high performance ac, because due
to the design features the nose down pitching moments at the stall are not strong
enough to overcome the increase in the angle of attack due to the loss of height.
This is the crux of the problem.

8. In a swept wing, high tail ac like the Trident, the tailplane is out of the wake of
the wings at normal flying AOA. As the AOA is increased the tailplane gets closer to
the turbulent wake of the wings and eventually gets into it. When the tailplane gets
into the downwash of the wings there is loss of tail lift and the ac pitches up causing
the AOA to increase further. If this is allowed to continue the ac stalls and starts
losing height. Loss of height causes the AOA to increase further. As the CG is
well aft the nose down pitching moment due to the loss of height at the stall are too
low to overcome the increase in AOA so caused. The ac therefore settles down in a
stalled condition. By then the tailplane gets below the downwash and is stalled. Full

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forward movement of the stick is unable to reduce the AOA, the ac continues to sink
maintaining a fairly low IAS, an angle of attack of about 50° and a ROD of as high as
10,000 ft/min. No recovery is possible at this stage. At the development stage test
pilots deploy a tail chute to pitch the nose down as recovery by elevator alone is
impossible.This phenomenon that can occur on a swept wing, high tail ac with aft
CG is called superstall. The stage at which the pitch up takes place is considered to
be the point of no return, as beyond this stage recovery is not possible.

9. It should not be too difficult to visualise how high the drag of an ac would be at
about 50° AOA and that even the max thrust would be unable to accelerate the ac
out of this condition. Fortunately our problem in service flying is not this type of
superstall from which no recovery is possible but the one that could be caused and
inadvertantly maintained by an unsuspecting pilot.

Pilot Induced Super Stall

10. Lets us have a look at the thrust required and the thrust available curves. We
find that the thrust required at lower speeds in high performance ac is hgiher as
compared to the conventional ac. Due to the sharp increase in C D of the high
performance ac their thrust requirement increases sharply with reduction of speed
below the endurance speed. Consequently the thrust requirement for level flight at
high AOA tends to be more than T a. The maximum and minimum speeds are
obtained where the T a and Tr meet. Level flight above and below these speeds
respectively is not possible.

11. If an ac is accelerated in level flight with max T a it would reach the max speed
when Ta equals Tr. Thereafter a higher speed can only be attained by losing
height in a dive so that a component of weight balances excess drag. This rate of
descent can be arrested by simply easing the stick back. If this ac is decelerated in
level flight a ROD will occur when either the ac stalls (ie C L is reached in a
conventional ac) or Tr equals Ta(in a high performance ac). A lower speed will
require a loss of height as a component of weight can balance excess drag. This
ROD cannot be arrested by easing the stick back. In fact such an action on part of
the pilot will cause the ac to sink further and get into a pilot induced superstall.

12. The region of reverse command is encountered when operating below the
endurance speed. In this portion of the flight envelope greater thrust is required to
fly level at lower speed. Let us consider an ac flying level in this region. If the
airspeed is allowed to drop (at constant thrust) a loss of height would ensue unless
the angle of attackis increased to get higher C L, to offset the loss of speed (L = C L 1/2
V2s). As noted earlier, in high performance ac at high angles of attack the C L curve
is flat, hence increasing angle of attack does not increase C L as desired. At the
same time the drag increase markedly and decelerates the ac aggravating the
situation further. The reduced speed at about the same C L causes a loss of lift,
consequently the weight acting downwards causes a loss of height. This loss of
height increases the AOA and drag further, speed reduces further. The vicious
circle starts leading a pilot to disaster. If adequate thrust is applied in time (ie before

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Tr exceeds max Ta) the ac will accelerate, for the prevalent C L higher speed will give
enough lift to arrest the loss of height and the ac will become flyable again. If a pilot
is slow in the application of thrust and the Tr exceeds Ta max the ac will continue to
lose height in a pilot induced superstall. This state will continue as long as the pilot
holds the control column back; usually in an attempt to increase C L as he did in
conventional ac to offset the loss of speed.

13. Unlike in conventional ac the nose down pitching moment at the stall is not
strong enough to overcome the increase in angle of attack due to sink as long as the
stick is held back by the pilot. Foirtunately this is not an impossible situation like in a
Trident ac where no recovery is possible even if the stick is pushed fully forward. In
our types of ac recovery is assured if the pilot recognises this condition pushes the
stick forward (or even releases the back pressure that he is holding to keep the nose
up and has adequate height to accelerate the ac to safe speed.

14. So far only level flight has been considered for ease of understanding.
Manoeuvring flight increases the lift requirement above the basic weight of the ac :
the ac has to be necessarily flown at high angles of attack even at higher sppeds.
So the problems encountered in level flight not only occur but are compounded
because of higher lift requirement and increased pilot workload during manoeuvring
flight. Add to this the need to keep `enemy aircraft' in sight (air combat) and you
could have a pilot induced stall in a platter if this phenomenon is not clear
understood.

Comparison with a Conventional Stall

15 The basic differences of a superstall from a conventional stall are :-

(a) The ac may not be past stalling angle of attack.

(b) Well marked buffet/clear warning may be absent.

(c) There is no nose drop.

(d) It can occur in a turn without flicking.

(e) High sink rates may lead to excessive loss of height.

(f) There are no stable, pitching moments hence recovery has to be deliberate.

16. The similarities between the two are :-

(a) Reduced effectiveness of controls in general and that of aileron in particular

(b) Low speed

(c) Loss of height

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Detection of a Super Stall

17. Whenever an ac begins to lose height with the nose at or above the horizon
conditions favourable to the occurance of super stall exist. Due to poor
forward/downward visibility it is very difficult to detect the loss of height visually. A
rate of descent indicated by the VSI is the only reliable indication of the loss of
height. It should be clearly understood that to get 45 to 50° AOA the nose of the
does not have to be 45 to 50°above the horizon. The AOA would be 45° if the ac
sinks at a rate at which it is noving forward in near level flight attitude.

Prevention and Recovery from a Super Stall

18. Precautions to be considered especially in high performance ac for preventing

superstall conditions are :-

(a) Avoid high approaches at low RPM.

(b) Avoid low dragging approaches.

(c) In both cases to correct slightest error of judgement open throtle before raising
the nose.

(d) In air combat maintain either height or speed, do not lose both simultaneously.

(e) While manoeuvring watch the VSI.

(f) Keep a watch on the angle of attack indicator.

(g) At low levels do not wash off speed in tight turns - use adequate throttle.

19. If prevention fails, recovery could be effected by the following :-

(a) Ease the stick forward to get the nose well below the horizon, use throttle to
increase speed. Do not ease back till minimum flying speed is achieved.

(b) If in a turn, roll out simultaneously ease the stick forward and recover as above.

(c) If the nose does not come down as a last resort try deploying the tailchute.

Conclusion

19. Superstall is a hazard which needs to be understood to avoid and/or overcome.

It is not an impossible situation. The fear of super stall borne out of inadequate
knowledge and experience can prevent the use of a high performance ac as an
effective weapon platform. On the other hand superstall can also result in loss of
precious lives and ac if it is not clearly understood by our pilots.

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