Aerospace Medicine

G protection in the 39 Gripen aircraft is provided by a full coverage anti-G suit, a pressure-breathing system, and anti-G straining maneuvers (AGSM). The purpose was to study (1) the interaction of pressure breathing and AGSM while wearing an anti-G suit; and (2) the G-protective properties of the anti-G suit alone and in combination with the pressure-breathing system. During rapid onset rate G-time profiles (< or =9 G), 10 subjects were investigated in 5 conditions: (I) sitting relaxed, without any G-protective garment; (II) sitting relaxed and wearing an anti-G suit; (III) sitting relaxed, wearing an anti-G suit, and pressure breathing; IV) wearing an anti-G suit and performing AGSM; and V) wearing an anti-G suit, pressure breathing, and performing AGSM. In supplementary experiments (n=9), the share of the anti-G suit protection afforded by the abdominal bladder was investigated. G tolerance was 3.4 Gz (range: 2.8-4.3) in condition I, > or = 6.5 Gz (4.5-9.0) in II, > or ...

A number of interpersonal issues relevant to manned space missions have been identified from the literature. These include crew tension, cohesion, leadership, language and cultural factors, and displacement. Ground-based studies by others and us have clarified some of the parameters of these issues and have indicated ways in which they could be studied during actual space missions. In this paper, we summarize some of our findings related to social and cultural issues from a NASA-funded study conducted during several Shuttle/Mir space missions. We used standardized mood and group climate measures that were completed on a weekly basis by American and Russian crew and mission control subjects who participated in these missions. Our results indicated that American subjects reported more dissatisfaction with their interpersonal environment than their Russian counterparts, especially American astronauts. Mission control personnel were more dysphoric than crewmembers, but both groups were ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the capacity of a traditional stethoscope versus an electronically amplified one (expected to reduce background and ambient noise) to assess heart and respiratory sounds during medical transport. It was a prospective, double-blinded, randomized performed study. One traditional stethoscope (Littmann Cardiology III; 3M, St Paul, MN) and 1 electronically amplified stethoscope (Littmann 3200, 3M) were used for our tests. Heart and lung auscultation during real medical evacuations aboard a medically configured Falcon 50 aircrafts were studied. The quality of auscultation was ranged using a numeric rating scale from 0 to 10 (0 corresponding to "I hear nothing" and 10 to "I hear perfectly"). Data collected were compared using a t-test for paired values. A total of 40 comparative evaluations were performed. For cardiac auscultation, the value of the rating scale was 4.53 ± 1.91 and 7.18 ± 1.88 for the traditional and amplified stethoscope, respectively (paired t-test: P < .0001). For respiratory sounds, quality of auscultation was estimated at 3.1 ± 1.95 for a traditional stethoscope and 5.10 ± 2.13 for the amplified one (paired t-test: P < .0001). This study showed that practitioners would be better helped in hearing cardiac and respiratory sounds with an electronically amplified stethoscope than with a traditional one during air medical transport in a medically configured Falcon 50 aircraft.

The Weber force-deployed personnel parachute, occasionally (& erroneously) referred to as the US Air Force 'BA-24 back style parachute', was a Weber Aircraft Company development that facilitated rapid deployment upon emergency ejection of the aircrew parachute through the use of a ballistic gun-fired slug that extracted the chute's drogue quickly, thus facilitating survival in 'low & slow' emergency egress situations. The US Air Force TO (Technical Order) that life support personnel used to sustain and maintain the chute (USAF TO 14D3-11-1) is attached for reference (provided courtesy of NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center ALSE Lab, Edwards AFB, CA).

This paper delves into the development of Soviet/Russian aircrew flight helmets and oxygen breathing masks for military aircraft operations in the atmosphere (excludes pressure suits & related equipment) and may serve as a guide to these items of ALSE produced by the USSR and the Soviet Socialist Republics; it carries through into the post-Soviet era.

This paper presents a history of the Lockheed F-104B Starfighter NASA819 (also known as USAF 57-1303) used at the former NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (now the Armstrong DRC) at Edwards AFFTC, reviewing the major noteworthy highlights of that aircraft's 20 year history of flight test operations, from its origin as an Ames FRC bird for NACA, through its retirement to the Aerospace Museum of California (where it remains on display today).

This paper catalogues and chronicles the development of Chinese (PRC) military aircrew (PLAAF) flight helmet & oxygen breathing mask systems. The close links that China cultivated with Russia in fostering aircrew protection equipment are cited and described.

Spatial disorientation (SD) is still a contributing factor in many aviation accidents, stressing the need for adequate SD training scenarios. In this article we focused on the post-roll effect (the sensation of rolling back after a roll maneuver, such as an entry of a coordinated turn) and investigated the effect of roll stimuli on the pilot's ability to stabilize their roll attitude. This resulted in a ground-based demonstration scenario for pilots. The experiments took place in the advanced 6-DOF Desdemona motion simulator, with the subject in a supine position. Roll motions were either fully automated with the subjects blindfolded (BLIND), automated with the subject viewing the cockpit interior (COCKPIT), or self-controlled (LEAD). After the roll stimulus subjects had to cancel all perceived simulator motion without any visual feedback. Both the roll velocity and duration were varied. In 68% of all trials subjects corrected for the perceived motion of rolling back by initiating a roll motion in the same direction as the preceeding roll. The effect was dependent on both rate and duration, in a manner consistent with semicircular canal dynamics. The effect was smallest in the BLIND scenario, but differences between simulation scenarios were non-significant. The results show that the effects of the post-roll illusion on aircraft control can be demonstrated adequately in a flight simulator using an attitude control task. The effect is present even after short roll movements, occurring frequently in flight. Therefore this demonstration is relevant for spatial disorientation training programs for pilots.

A comparison of the results obtained with the Nagel anomaloscope and the Holmes-Wright Type A, Spectrolux, and Beyne aviation color vision lanterns was undertaken. The Joint Aviation Requirements (JAR) specify pass/fail limits for these four secondary color vision tests and the Ishihara screening test. The results for individuals on all five tests were studied. The color vision of 55 color-vision deficient and 24 color-vision normal subjects, mostly applicant pilots, was assessed using a battery of tests, including the Ishihara plates, the Nagel anomaloscope, and three lanterns. The testing methods and characteristics of the lanterns and anomaloscope were compared. Of the color-deficient applicants, only deuteranomalous trichromats passed more than one of the four secondary JAR tests, but a pass on one test did not reliably predict a pass on another test. Three out of nine protanomalous trichromats passed the Nagel anomaloscope but failed all three lantern tests. Of the normal trich...

We conducted experimental trials of flying after diving using profiles near the no-decompression exposure limits for recreational diving. The objective was to determine the dependence of DCS occurrence during or after flight on the length of the preflight surface intervals (PFSI). One to three dives were conducted during a single day with dry, resting subjects in a hyperbaric chamber at depths of 40, 60, or 100 fsw (224, 286, 408 kPa). The dives were followed by PFSI of 3 to 17 hrs and a four-hour altitude exposure at 8,000 ft (75 kPa), the maximum permitted cabin altitude for pressurized commercial aircraft. Forty DCS incidents occurred during or after flight in 802 exposures of 495 subjects. The DCS incidence decreased as PFSI increased, and repetitive dives generally required longer PFSI to achieve low incidence than did single dives (p = 0.0159). No DCS occurred in 52 trials of a 17 hr PFSI, the longest PFSI tested. The results provide empirical information for formulating guide...

There are physiologic and logistic concerns involved in caring for patients with inflight emergencies. This article presents the physiologic changes that occur at altitude, the types of medical problems that can be encountered, and management strategies. An overview is also presented of the medical training of flight attendants and the medical equipment that is available on commercial aircraft.

Doctor Professor Hubertus Strughold was a key figure in German World War Two aviation phsyiological medicine research for the RLM (Reichs Luftfahrts Ministerium). His brilliant work in aviation human factors proved invaluable to the German war effort. More importantly, however, after the war, Strughold came to the United States and, working with American colleges in aviation medicine, devloped the pioneering groundwork which largely enabled the American space program of the 50s, 60s and 70s. It is safe to say that without Hubertus Strughold, America's race to reach the moon with a manned lunar landing would have been seriously, perhaps even permanently, delayed. Dr. Strughold was consequently acclaimed and honored for his important work in association with the Brooks School of Aerospace Medicine, NASA, and the US Air Force. However, thanks to largely insinuative aspersions cast upon him by certain left-of-center religious partisan organisations, many of these honors were summarily retracted. Despite any direct evidence that Strughold was personally involved with the unhumane human experimentations conducted by the Nazis during the war, his reputation still remains besmirched. It is well past time to dispell those slanderous and almost completely baseless accusations and rehabilitate his good name. Sadly, Dr. Strughold passed away in 1986, shortly after his reputation was irreparably slandered.

This review article is a compendium of six individual manuscripts, a Commentary, and an Executive Summary. This body of work is entitled "The Impact of Sex and Gender on Adaptation to Space" and was developed in response to a recommendation from the 2011 National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey, "Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences for a New Era," which emphasized the need to fully understand sex and gender differences in space. To ensure the health and safety of male and female astronauts during long-duration space missions, it is imperative to examine and understand the influences that sex and gender have on physiological and psychological changes that occur during spaceflight. In this collection of manuscripts, six workgroups investigated and summarized the current body of published and unpublished human and animal research performed to date related to sex- and gender-based differences in the areas of cardiovascular, immun...