RNZAF A-4 Skyhawk Team Tricks

One of the truly awful effects of flying high-performance aircraft in the Southern Hemisphere is illustrated here.   Even very experienced pilots such as these can suddenly fall into a state of complete spatial disorientation.   The pilot of the lead Skyhawk has managed to bring his plane back into level flight, but what he hasn't yet realized is that he is level - but upside down!

Although a well-documented and actually quite common phenomenon, it wasn't until the late 1970s that the cause was found - disturbance of fluid in the inner ear due to the Coriolus Effect, the same force that causes water to rotate clockwise down a sink in the Southern hemisphere, and counter-clockwise in the Northern hemisphere.

Large passenger aircraft which operate in the Southern hemisphere, such as 747s, are all fitted with alarm systems which warn the pilots when the plane is banking more than 45 degrees.

And now from the sublime to the ridiculous - how about one Skyhawk refuelling another in flight and while in formation?

one Skyhawk refuelling another (click this photo to see a large wallpaper version of this photo)