Extending the age limit of commercial pilots

Recommendations. It is recommended that all aircrew, especially those over the age of 40 years, should be periodically screened for cardiovascular risk using a resting ECG and risk estimating calculators that are representative and appropriate for the population to screen and provide non-fatal and fatal endpoints. Pilots with an elevated CVD...

Orientation of Listing’s plane after hypergravity in humans

Adaptation to a novel gravitational state involves adaptation of vestibular mediated responses, in particular those mediated by the otolith organs. The present paper investigates whether the orientation of Listing’s plane, which is under control of otolith signals, is affected by sustained exposure to hypergravity. Subjects were exposed to four...

Heat stress reduction of helicopter crew wearing a ventilated vest

Background: Helicopter pilots are often exposed to periods of high heat strain, especially when wearing survival suits. Therefore, a prototype of a ventilated vest was evaluated on its capability to reduce the heat strain of helicopter pilots during a 2-h simulated flight. Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that the ventilated vest would reduce...

Hearing and Performance During a 70-h Exposure to Noise Simulating the Space Station Environment

Introduction: Elevated hearing thresholds have been documented in some astronauts after long-term spaceflights although noise levels were lower than those normally associated with noise-induced hearing loss in ground-based operations. The present study was conducted to determine whether prolonged exposure (70 h) to levels (72 dBA) recorded on...

Desloratadine shows no effect on performance during 6 h at 8,000 ft simulated cabin altitude

Sustained vigilance is required by pilots and crew during flight; therefore, the use of antihistamines with sedating properties is widely prohibited. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of desloratadine, a long-acting, nonsedating antihistamine, on healthy volunteers placed under conditions of simulated cabin pressure. Methods...

The use of actimetry to assess changes to the rest-activity cycle

The endogenous circadian oscillator (the body clock) is slow to adjust to altered rest-activity patterns. As a result, several negative consequences arise during night work and after time-zone transitions. The process of adjustment can be assessed by measurements of the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG), core temperature or melatonin secretion,...

Eye movements to yaw, pitch, and roll about vertical and horizontal axes: adaptation, and motion sickness

Background: In the search for parameters to predict motion sickness that can be measured in the laboratory, we performed a longitudinal investigation in aviators. Since the vestibular system is involved in the generation of motion sickness as well as eye movements, vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) parameters seemed relevant. We investigated three...

Balancing speech intelligibility versus sound exposure in selection of personal hearing protection equipment for Chinook aircrews

Background: Aircrews are often exposed to high ambient sound levels, especially in military aviation. Since long-term exposure to such noise may cause hearing damage, selection of adequate hearing protective devices is crucial. Such devices also affect speech intelligibility. When speech intelligibility and hearing protection lead to conflicting...

Physiological workload reactions to increasing levels of task difficulty

The sensitivity of physiological measures to mental workload has been investigated in a flight simulator. Twelve pilots had to fly through a tunnel with different levels of difficulty. Additionally, they had to perform a memory task with four levels of difficulty. The easiest memory task was combined with the easiest tunnel task and the most...