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Pilot reported losing spatial orientation which led the reporter to think they were closer to the airport than they actually were.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1760922 |
| Time | |
| Date | 202009 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | SDF.Tower |
| State Reference | KY |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Small Aircraft Low Wing 1 Eng Retractable Gear |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 135 |
| Flight Phase | Final Approach |
| Route In Use | Visual Approach |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Flying Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 117 Flight Crew Total 1934 Flight Crew Type 322 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT |
Narrative:
After being vectored over the airport and sequenced behind multiple heavy jets; I was cleared for the visual approach to 35R at sdf. The last vector to final was a shallow intercept angle and I mistakenly identified a warehouse as being part of the [company] ramp. This led to partial spatial disorientation which allowed me to believe I was 1.5 miles from the airport instead of the actual 2.5 miles. The tower controller gave me an altitude alert and the altimeter setting; which prompted me to add power and reevaluate my location to the airport. I then reset my glide path and had a stabilized approach to landing with no further issues. I believe a contributing factor was the lengthy duty day that also included a stop at sdf about 10 hours earlier. Additionally; I was vectored over the airport and looked down at the airport environment to identify the [company] ramps and the FBO ramp where I would be offloading/loading freight; which added to my belief that I had correctly identified part of the airport environment. To prevent this from happening; I could have switched my CDI to follow the ILS (which I had loaded). Also; since I was cleared for the visual I could have turned more to intercept final further out instead of following a shallow intercept angle.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Pilot reported losing spatial orientation which led the reporter to think they were closer to the airport than they actually were.
Narrative: After being vectored over the airport and sequenced behind multiple heavy jets; I was cleared for the visual approach to 35R at SDF. The last vector to final was a shallow intercept angle and I mistakenly identified a warehouse as being part of the [company] ramp. This led to partial spatial disorientation which allowed me to believe I was 1.5 miles from the airport instead of the actual 2.5 miles. The tower controller gave me an altitude alert and the altimeter setting; which prompted me to add power and reevaluate my location to the airport. I then reset my glide path and had a stabilized approach to landing with no further issues. I believe a contributing factor was the lengthy duty day that also included a stop at SDF about 10 hours earlier. Additionally; I was vectored over the airport and looked down at the airport environment to identify the [company] ramps and the FBO ramp where I would be offloading/loading freight; which added to my belief that I had correctly identified part of the airport environment. To prevent this from happening; I could have switched my CDI to follow the ILS (which I had loaded). Also; since I was cleared for the visual I could have turned more to intercept final further out instead of following a shallow intercept angle.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.