JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. –
An aircraft is vital to the Air Force’s mission but it
can’t do much without a pilot. The pilot is the brain of the aircraft and just
like the human body, if the brain isn’t functioning correctly the body can’t
work properly.
The brain needs oxygen to do its job properly and
while at all altitudes the air stays relatively the same being made up of 21
percent Oxygen, 78 percent Nitrogen, .93 percent Argon and 1% other minor gases,
it’s the decrees in pressure that can affect the pilot.
As the altitude increases the pressure decreases
lowering the amount of oxygen that is forced into a person’s lungs. When the heart and/or lungs can’t provide the blood with the
proper amount of oxygen, the brain and other organs may suffer from hypoxia,
and this can be fatal if not corrected.
It’s the job of 1st
Operations Group aerospace and operational physiology to train the pilots to understand
and recognize the symptoms they may receive while becoming hypoxic.
The 1st OG AOP uses the Reduced Oxygen Breathing
Device to simulate high altitude exposure environments to induce those symptoms
so that the individuals practice recognizing the symptoms.
Some symptoms may include tingling in extremities,
affected vision, nausea, light headedness, euphoria and/or belligerency.
“Our training is important, definitely when it comes
to safety because when the pilots go up in altitude they’ll get different
symptoms when they get lack of oxygen and we want to make sure they recognize
them,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Dylan Crump,
1st OG AOP technician. “If individuals who did not get this
training went up in altitude they may not recognize what hypoxia was or
recognize their symptoms, they could potentially pass out and crash the
aircraft.”
While using the ROBD, the instructor continuously
speaks with the individual to keep them busy, all while monitoring their vitals
and slowly reducing his oxygen intake. As the individual recognizes their
symptoms, they let the instructor know and the instructors then pump 100
percent oxygen through the mask.
According to Crump, this in pilot terms is called
“gang loading” the regulator. Making sure that the regulator is ON, Oxygen is
at 100 percent and the pressure (air flow) is on Emergency.
Vision is usually the first thing to be affected when
going hypoxic. Due to certain colors being harder to see at night the
instructor will turn down the lights and give the person a card with
alternating colors to test their vision while undergoing hypoxia, said Crump.
The instructor will then give the individual 100
percent oxygen, bringing back all color vividness showing the pilot how much
their vision was affected.
“At any moment
we could be called to go do something, whether that is the protection of the
United States or going overseas to fight,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Andy, 149th
Fighter Squadron F-22 pilot.
As the pilots are flying and acting as the brain for
their aircrafts, AOP is in the background making sure the pilots stay sharp,
recognizing their symptoms and staying ready for whenever they may be called to
fight.