When "tunnel vision" leads to a crash

In the winter of 2021, a pilot decided to take off on a sightseeing flight despite adverse weather conditions. After take-off, the weather situation deteriorated rapidly. The pilot wanted to turn back and land at the destination airfield. However, there was heavy snow there in the meantime. Nevertheless, the pilot decided to land, which was a fatal mistake. Instead of diverting to another airfield (plan B), he flew into the snow cloud and crashed.

The Tunnel vision in aviation is a well researched Human performance and perception problem. In aviation, it refers to a stress-induced narrowing of perception in which pilots focus their attention strongly on a single stimulus or a specific problem, while other important information is ignored. This is not a visual impairment, but a natural reaction of the human body to stress, time pressure or perceived danger. The activation of the sympathetic nervous system causes hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol to be released, which increases the readiness to react in the short term, but at the same time restricts peripheral vision, cognitive flexibility and fine motor skills. In such moments, the brain prioritizes simple survival mechanisms instead of a comprehensive analysis of the situation.

The whole article on stay safe.aero

Accident analysis: Errant flight in a snow shower on aerokurier.de