AVP 337 - Aviation Physiology and Survival

• Describe the physiological effects of high altitude on pilot performance and identify strategies necessary to avoid or effectively manage them, including:
  • Hypoxia, trapped & dissolved gas(DCS)
  • Cabin environmental factors (vibration, humidity, radiation, ozone)
• Summarize the major visual perceptual limitations that affect pilot performance and identify strategies necessary to effectively manage them, including:
  • Visual identification of aircraft (see& avoid concepts), visual illusions, visual flight in impoverished conditions (night, reduced visibility, flat light)
• Explain the non-visual sensory systems which are responsible for giving humans their sense of spatial orientation, identify the various illusions that may manifest themselves when outside visual references are diminished, and identify the strategies necessary to effectively overcome these illusions, including;
  • Vestibular and somatosensory systems, somatogyral illusions, somatogravic illusions
• Describe how individual health choices may affect pilot performance in flight, including: medication, alcohol & drugs, diet, exercise and physical fitness
• Summarize the effects of fatigue on pilot performance and identify alertness management strategies necessary to reduce its effects, including: circadian dysrhythmia, time awake, sleep debt, insomnia, sleep disorders, scheduling, and commuting practices.
• Provide examples of how physiological limitations have contributed to aircraft accidents and/or incidents, including: hypoxia, visual illusions & visual flight at night, spatial disorientation, and fatigue.
• Describe the physiological effects of increased accelerations (+Gz & - Gz) on pilot performance, including: greyout, blackout, redout, G-induced loss of consciousness (GLOC).
• Identify and explain the fundamental principles of surviving an aircraft accident and facilitating rescue, including: aircraft crashworthiness & crash survival factors, physiological &first aid priorities, shelter from environment, food & water procurement and facilitating rescue (SAR)