Many times large number of incentive and familiarization flights are offered to maintenance and operational support personnel during temporary duty (TDY) deployments. Flight surgeons play a crucial role in this process educating and medically clearing potential candidates. In this setting,…
Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR’s) are considered a threat to aviators, flight crews and frequent air travelers. This risk to astronauts is even greater (possibly even lethal) and continues to pose a significant obstacle to long expeditions into outer space. Cosmic radiation is comprised…
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) maintains a webpage dedicated to providing updated recommendations to airlines on high-interest infectious diseases. The current website offers guidance to airlines on the measles, flu, cholera, and Middle-East respiratory syndrome (MERS). On August 11 2014,…
On 17 April 2002, as the Afghanistan conflict was escalating, a friendly-fire incident swept the headlines. An American F-16 being flown by an Air National Guard pilot mistook Canadians training in a live fire drill for Taliban insurgents and dropped a…
Chemical stimulants and sleeping aids have a long history of use in improving performance in military personnel. The first pharmacologic stimulant, Amphetamine, became available by prescription in 1937. It was used in WWII by the Japanese and Germans of the Axis Powers…
Legislators of the Armed Services Committee recently published comments on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2015. This federal law is passed every year and specifies the budget and expenditures of the Department of Defense. The 2014…
I recently finished the book, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace, by former Army Ranger turned psychologist, Lt Col (ret.) Dave Grossman. Although I have some concerns on how rigorous the science…
Fighter aircraft are commonly home to locations with stable weather patterns and abundant airspace for training purposes. Many times, these advantages for military flight operations also coincide with very high temperatures. Additionally, military aircraft often deploy to either hot arid…
On 16 July 1999, the son of former President John F. Kennedy took off in his privately-owned Piper Saratoga from New Jersey bound for Martha’s Vineyard. Although he held a private pilot’s license without an instrument rating, he departed in…
Almost 5 years after the historic birth of controlled flight at Kitty Hawk, an updated version of the Wright Flyer was involved in the first fatal aircraft mishap in powered flight. Many early pioneers in aviation, like Otto Lilienthal, had already…
