False Horizon
What is false horizon?
A false horizon is a visual illusion in which natural or man-made features—like a sloping cloud bank, an obscured horizon, the northern lights, or a pattern of ground lights mixed with stars—trick you into aligning the aircraft with something other than the true horizon. Believing this false reference, a disoriented pilot may unknowingly place the airplane in a dangerous attitude. Think of it as your eyes "locking onto" the wrong line in the sky—on the test, it's a visual illusion (not a vestibular one) that's countered by trusting your flight instruments.
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