
The Turn (1993) - js2
https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/langew/turn.htm?single_page=true
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princekolt
> Sometimes we can even give a direction to the bank. But if we then close our
> eyes, we have no way of telling that we are sitting at an angle. I know from
> experience how difficult it is to convince people of this.

> [...]

> He had found here in the spinning chair the proof that instinct is worse
> than useless in the clouds.

I had a similar experience that absolutely proved this while flying recently.
I was sitting near the middle of the airplane (it had a 2-4-2 seat
configuration), and all the window shutters near me were closed.

We were approaching our destination, and the pilot had started manoeuvring to
get into the approach pattern. I sensed some rotational acceleration and
guessed (correctly) that we had started a long and wide bank turn, and I was
convinced that it was a bank towards the right.

I waited until some passenger near the right-side windows opened the shutter
to peek into the ground outside, ant to my utter astonishment and surprise,
all to be seen from that window was a sheet of sky blue (we were banking to
the left). I cannot even begin to explain how disconnected from reality I felt
for a good 2 or 3 seconds.

