ABSTRACT
The aerial environment can be very dangerous and unforgiving to humans because of its abnormal accelerations, excessive motions and G-forces, and frequently distorted visual cues. Several “sensory” syndromes occur during flight are known to severely impact aircraft control and mission performance, the most prominent of these being spatial disorientation (SD) and motion sickness (MS). These syndromes and other physiological stressors such as high G-forces may compromise perceptual judgments (for example the perceived direction of gravity), cognitive skills (for example temporal estimation), motor function (for example inability to control or initiate eye or arm movements), and overall psychological functions (for example motivation). The remainder of this chapter will describe in greater detail the problems associated with SD and, to a lesser extent, MS and high G-forces. Finally, implications for human factors research and design of information displays in the aerial environment will be discussed.
