Human Factors and Crew Resource Management in IMC
What this domain tests
Why instrument flying breaks pilots, and the countermeasures: decision-making models, workload management, automation policy, and the specific illusions that kill pilots in cloud without an outside horizon.
Self-assessment and decision-making
IMSAFE (Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, Emotion) is the pre-flight gate. In flight, use a decision model such as DECIDE or the 3P model (Perceive, Process, Perform), and treat the sterile flight deck rule - no non-essential conversation below 10,000 ft or during taxi, take-off, approach and landing - as a hard barrier. In single-pilot IFR, SRM substitutes for a second crew member: call your own checklists aloud and set decision gates before the approach.
Spatial disorientation
The vestibular system cannot be trusted without visual reference. The somatogravic illusion makes acceleration feel like a pitch-up, so a pilot pushes forward after a go-around and descends into terrain. The somatogyral (graveyard) spiral is an unrecognised banked descent perceived as straight and level. The black hole approach occurs at night over dark water or unlit terrain, where a low approach looks normal.
Worked example
On a night go-around in IMC, after applying power you feel the aircraft pitching up and instinctively push the control column forward. Reasoning: the linear acceleration of the go-around has stimulated the otoliths, not a real pitch change. The correct action is to cross-check the attitude indicator, airspeed, altimeter and VSI, hold the pitch attitude and positive rate, and ignore the sensation until a visual horizon or the instruments confirm the attitude.
Traps
Believing "I feel fine" rules out hypoxia - euphoria is a symptom; trusting a seat-of-the-pants sensation over the attitude indicator; letting automation reduce your scan until a mode change surprises you; treating fatigue rules as paperwork rather than a flight-safety limit.