Recently, I was catching up with a fellow USAF flight surgeon who is leaving active duty for the greener pastures of civilian residency. When I shared with him that he would qualify for GI Bill compensation as a resident, he…
Recently, I’ve been asked several times about age limits to become a pilot in the US Air Force. Age is actually not considered a ‘medical’ standard. In the USAF, flight surgeons use a hefty document, titled the ‘Medical Standards Directory’…
This short 14 minute documentary featured in the 2007 Sundance Film Festival won’t leave you disappointed. The film invigorates an aged WWII pilot when he is reunited with old video footage of himself taken by his unit’s flight surgeon during the war.…
This article discusses an awesome opportunity specifically designed for USAF flight surgeons to gain a firmer understanding on fighter and combat aircraft operations. This course is a good use of time for any military flight surgeon, but is an absolute…
I was recently in Estonia for a NATO military training exercise. Flying in the back seat of an F-16D (two seater), I was ‘gently’ reminded of the importance of human factors in flight and the constant, inherent danger in combat aviation.…
Most aviators learn early in their career that flying with a simple upper respiratory infection or seasonal allergies can be painful. Gases in the sinuses and middle ear expand in accordance with Boyles Law as altitude increases and pressure decreases.…
Rocky Jedick is a Captain and flight surgeon in the USAF. He begins EM residency this summer. Dr Jedick hosts the aerospace medicine website, Go Flight Medicine and can be reached through the ‘Contact Us’ section of his site or…
The recent Germanwings tragedy has called commercial aviation’s concept of ‘Fitness for Flight’ into question. In case the reader has just returned from a week long hike in the wilderness and missed the news headlines – on 24 March 2014…
Have you ever been part of Code Blue (patient in full arrest) that went horribly wrong? Almost all docs have a horror story from either a real-world or (preferably) sim lab scenario where a resuscitation fell apart and ultimately led…
Aerospace and Operational Physiology (AOP) has the unique challenge of bridging physiologic sciences with the operational environment. Many people think “they just work with pilots and do altitude chamber training.” While we do frequently work with pilots and other aircrew,…
