COVID-19 has stressed everyone around. Besides the fear of contracting the infection, it’s the contracting economy that remains a major concern. There are implications for those who have lost their jobs as also for those who are waiting to enter the aviation workforce, either to return back after compulsory grounding due to lockdowns and border …
Category: Aviation Medicine
Who failed in Crash of Flight IX-812?
The report on accident of Air India Express Flight IX-812 highlighted several factors which resulted in the tragic loss of 158 lives [1]. Limiting to the human factors alone, there were both physiological limitations of the crew and failure of crew resource management (CRM), besides organisational shortcomings.
Tired eh! Physical Cost of AGSM
Fatigue is the cost of correctly performed Anti-G straining manoeuvre (AGSM) to fight against the +Gz forces during air combat. Being an isometric exercise, akin to a 50 or 100 m race or weight lifting, the muscles maintain sustained contraction during AGSM to generate energy anaerobically. Thus time “to fatigue” and of “fatigue recovery” determine …
G-LOC Demystified
G-LOC has been implicated in various combat aircraft mishaps. Incidence of in-flight G-LOC in India is 11%, while it is 12 and 19% in USAF and RAF, respectively. Interestingly, G-LOC is more likely to occur in a trainee pilot, co-pilot or weapon system operator, who is caught unaware by the sudden onset of G or …
G-LOC – The Enemy within!
G-LOC is G-induced loss of consciousness, defined as a “state of altered perception wherein one’s awareness of reality is absent as a result of sudden, critical reduction of cerebral circulation caused by increased G force”.