Title: Avoiding Black Holes | Pilot Getaways
Headings: Avoiding Black Holes
Avoiding Black Holes
by Dale Wilson

Content: Others believe pilots get suckered into flying low approaches because a visual expansion of the runway environment occurs when their vision transitions from near focus (the cockpit instruments) to far focus (the runway environment). This in turn causes a height illusion, which results in a lower approach. Of course, a critical visual cue pilots rely on for height perception during daylight approaches, optic flow, is completely absent in black hole conditions. Without this relative movement of outside terrain in our peripheral vision, it is virtually impossible to judge our height above the ground. It is likely that any or all of these factors play a role in deceiving pilots into thinking they are too high when conducting approaches in black hole conditions. One final warning: upslope runways intensify this illusion. In fact, the experienced crew of a Boeing 767 recently landed short, damaging the aircraft’s tail, while conducting an approach to an upslope runway at Halifax International Airport. Even though the Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) lights indicated a “too low” approach, the dark night combined with the upslope runway created a strong height illusion for the crew. In the original Boeing black hole studies, 11 out of 12 pilots who conducted visual approaches to a simulated upslope runway crashed short of it!