Training for the worst, one breath at a time

  • Published
  • By Josh Aycock
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  Aircrews flying the skies over Ramstein see the best views of Europe, get places the fastest and have what many consider the coolest jobs the Air Force can offer. But having those special roles comes with risk that most people with two feet on the ground have never heard of.

Hypoxia, by definition, is a deficiency in the amount of oxygen delivered to the body tissues which can be caused by changes in altitude. What that means for aircrews are feelings of light headedness, nausea, shortness of breath or fatigue, to name a few of the symptoms.

"Aviators are at risk for hypoxia every time they fly above 10,000 feet," said Maj. Thomas Massa, U.S. Air Forces in Europe's command physiologist. "Historically we've lost aircraft and people to this threat, so it's a must that we train to recognize those signs and symptoms."

Making hypoxia even more dangerous is that it's not a cookie cutter-threat, affecting everyone in different ways. Aircrews must go through extensive training to identify how hypoxia affects them individually, what to do to combat it and how to spot the effects on their crewmembers or wingmen who may not know they are feeling the effects.

Insert the reduced oxygen breathing device and the hypoxia familiarization trainer, also known as the ROBD and HFT. The two new pieces of equipment were recently acquired at the 86th Operations Support Squadron to train aircrews to recognize and properly respond to the effects of hypoxia.

While this is not new training for pilots, it is a new way of accomplishing it in USAFE. Ramstein is the first base within the command to implement the new training equipment with three more trainers waiting for installation at other bases.

Refresher training is required every five years and, previously, units had to send their aircrews TDY to one of a handful of bases that had an altitude chamber, costing the Air Force in TDY and manpower expenses. By cutting the amount of TDYs aircrews must take, USAFE aims to save more than $600 thousand a year and 1200 man-days.

"This is a classic example of saving money through technology and increasing the quality of the training," said Lt. Gen. Frank Gorenc, 3rd Air Force commander and a seasoned pilot with over 4,100 flight hours that recently trained with the ROBD and HFT.
The new training aids also allow trainers to put aircrews in a more realistic training scenario than in the past.

According to Major Massa, by combining the new breathing device with the HFT, essentially a simple aircraft simulator that can be tailored with the aircraft oxygen equipment the pilots and crews work with, the trainee gets more practical training.

"In the altitude chamber you were basically sitting in a container with one objective, to recognize what hypoxia feels like," Major Massa said. "With this device we allow them to do cockpit tasks while being exposed to hypoxia, as this is the closet we can get to what they are doing when flying and fighting for our nation."

The change is something not lost on the pilots that have experienced both types of training.

"The chamber was a very academic experience, and you couldn't really replicate all of the little tasks you have to do in a cockpit, which can be a hindrance to recognizing your hypoxic symptoms," General Gorenc said. "This (ROBD and HFT) puts you in the context of the business you are doing."

The new method even takes a different approach at inducing hypoxia.

According to Major Massa, altitude chambers induced hypoxia by lowering the barometric pressure around a person's body. The ROBD, however, uses high pressure cylinders to mix compressed air with nitrogen to induce the effects through a pilots mask. Without the need to lower the barometric pressure around the individual, aircrews can go straight back to flying.

"Pilots couldn't immediately fly over 15 thousand feet after going through the altitude chamber because they were at risk of post delayed effects such as decompression sickness, commonly known as the bends," Major Massa said. "Now, you can go through the HFT, walk out of the room and step to a brief and you are ready to go fly."

At the end of the day the new approach aims to make aircrews safer every time they take to the skies.

"Once again we've used technology to elevate the quality of our training on the ground to hopefully prevent accidents from happening in the air," Major Massa concluded.