College

You are making an approach on a minimum length runway. What visual illusion will this situation cause?

1) It will make the runway appear longer than it actually is.
2) It will make the runway appear shorter than it actually is.
3) It will make the runway appear wider than it actually is.
4) It will make the runway appear narrower than it actually is.

Answer :

Final answer:

The visual illusion associated with making an approach on a minimum length runway typically causes the runway to appear shorter than it is. This occurs due to limited visual depth cues, potentially leading to misjudgment in distance and speed during landing.

Explanation:

When making an approach on a minimum length runway, the visual illusion often causes the runway to appear shorter than it actually is. This is due to the fact that our perception of size commonly relies on contextual visual cues. A runway lacking the usual depth cues gives a narrow range of view, which might lead to the pilot perceiving the image as being closer than the actual object, resulting in an overestimation of the speed and a potential undershoot or late touchdown.

In aviation psychology, this falls under visual illusions that can significantly affect a pilot's perception during landing. For instance, as mentioned in parallels to the Müller-Lyer illusion where lines of the same length appear different due to the visual context, runways can similarly suffer from misleading visual perceptions.