An Internal Validation of the British Army Spatial Disorientation Sortie

SUMMARY: Following didactic instruction, most aircrew are able to experience some of the disorienting illusions and limitations of the orientation senses in a variety of ground-based simulation devices such as the Barany chair. In order to reinforce instruction in spatial disorientation (SD) within the environment in which they operate, British Army Air Corps (AAC) helicopter pilots additionally receive an airborne demonstration of the limitations of their orientation senses during initial pilot training and as a quadrennial requirement post-graduation. The sortie syllabus has been previously described [1]. The objective of the assessment presented herein was to determine whether the SD demonstration sortie was a valid method for training aircrew in SD in the AAC. This paper records the results of an anonymous voluntary questionnaire completed by 265 experienced aviators and aviators in training over a two and a half year period immediately following the sortie. The results were entered into a relational database and evaluated by a disinterested party using standard descriptive statistics. The following conclusions were made: the manoeuvres performed in the SD demonstration sortie, and the sortie overall, were extremely effective at demonstrating the limitations of the orientation senses. Furthermore the aviators considered that the sortie greatly enhanced their overall awareness of SD. Thus we may conclude that the sortie satisfies the internal validation process of the Systems Approach to Training.