graveyard spiral

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graveyard spiral

An illusion that a pilot can experience when he or she returns to level flight after an intentional or unintentional prolonged bank turn. A pilot who enters a banking turn to the left will initially have a sensation of turning in the same direction. If the left turn continues for 20 s or more, the pilot is likely to feel that the airplane is no longer turning to the left. If the pilot attempts to level the wings at this point, this action will produce a compelling sensation that the airplane is turning and banking to the right. Failure to check the instruments may lead the pilot to reenter the original left turn in an attempt to counteract the sensation of a right turn, but the airplane is still turning to the left and losing altitude. If the disoriented pilot pulls back on the controls, the spiral will tighten and the loss of altitude will increase, making the situation even worse.

References in periodicals archive ?

This action tightens the spiral and increases the loss of altitude; this illusion is referred to as a graveyard spiral.

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The resulting graveyard spiral could precipitate a loss of control.

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Instead of immediately recognizing/confirming/recovering, I added back stick pressure to maintain my altitude, thus beginning a graveyard spiral which could have ended in collision with the ground 30 seconds later.

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In less that a second, the nose of his plane dropped and Tipton's aircraft rolled over on its back and entered a spin, a flight condition often referred to a graveyard spiral.

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