Seems like the perfect scenario for sensory augmentation. There was an article on HN a while back about attaching electrodes to the tongue to replace vision in

Seems like the perfect scenario for sensory augmentation. There was an article on HN a while back about attaching electrodes to the tongue to replace vision in blind subjects. One of the precursor experiments was attaching electrodes to the hand that were tied into a compass. The subjects were able to eventually feel North. A similar device could be attached to something like an altimeter or other instrument.