AF, Navy team up over PEs

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The Air Force and Navy are teaming up in a joint effort to find a root cause of oxygen deprivation among its pilots, which officials have said is their single biggest safety concern in aviation. Pilots flying the Navy's F/A-18 Super Hornets and T-45C training jets, and the AF's F-22 Raptors have all reported experiencing hypoxia-like symptoms while flying. Solving that issue has eluded the services. Hypoxia symptoms include nausea, tingling, fatigue and disorientation. Pilots also have been experiencing decompression sickness, which causes double vision, headaches, and dizziness. Episodes are generally related to unscheduled pressure changes or pilots breathing gas. The AF announced the new partnership, called the Joint Physiological Episodes Action Team, at the Pentagon on Sept. 11. "Adopting a common team name, creating the Joint PEAT and better leveraging our joint data, research and resources will improve safety and combat readiness," said Brig. Gen. Edward Vaughan. The Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, is building multiple aircraft-specific life support system simulators to reproduce the breathing environments of the T-45C and F/A-18. NAMRL’s respiratory physiology lab will study the effects of variable breathing gas mixtures, in-line breathing resistance, breathing gas pressure and flow disruptions, as well as flight equipment fit on aircrew physiology and cognitive function, according to the Navy. (Source: Tribune News Service 09/13/18) Gulf Coast Note: T-45C pilots from Naval Air Stations Meridian, Miss., and Pensacola, Fla., have been among those experiencing Psychological Episodes (PEs). Tyndall AFB, Fla., has the largest contingent of F-22s in the Air Force.