Bringing the Sky Down to Earth
(Norfolk) - A hazard that all pilots and aircrew face during flying is the risk of hypoxia, which is a deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching the tissue. To better train personnel on symptom recognition and emergency procedures for hypoxia, the Naval Survival Training Institute (NSTI), a detachment of Navy Medicine Operational Training Center (NMOTC), has implemented the use of normobaric hypoxia trainers.
Aviation Survival Training Center (ASTC), Norfolk, a detachment of NSTI, is the most recent training location to receive an NHT for training.
“Hypoxia is a serious threat to all aircrew as it is most commonly associated with increases in altitude,” said LT Amanda Buckley, an aerospace operational physiologist at ASTC Norfolk. “The NHT is the newest device within the ASTCs. It is used to safely train aircrew on the effects and successful treatment of hypoxia during flight operations. The NHT is designed to be used with our fixed wing, non-ejection seat aircrews, including but not limited to the C-2, E-2, C-130 and C-40 airframes.”
Before the NHT, trainees would be placed into a low-pressure chamber which posed various risks. The NHT uses technology that takes ambient air and passes it through a nitrogen generating system, increasing nitrogen concentration to align with specific altitudes.
“The NHT is safer than the low-pressure chamber, which is what it was designed to replace,” said Capt. Leslie Kindling, the officer in charge of NSTI. “The chamber exposed the aircrew to pressure changes that could cause barotrauma or decompression sickness in addition to hypoxia while the NHT only exposes the aircrew to hypoxia.”
Low-pressure chambers were also replaced with mask-on simulators which were widely used for hypoxia training but detracted from the training experience for a large volume of aviators.
“As the low-pressure chambers were phased out and replaced with the mask-on hypoxia trainers we had a gap where our training became safer and more efficient, but it was not necessarily relevant to a significant portion of our fleet.”
Not all aircrew personnel wear a mask during normal operations, therefore, mask-on training presents an unrealistic training experience for such individuals.
“The NHT is designed to allow aircrew to perform similar aircraft, in-flight tasks without the need to have a mask on to simulate altitude changes,” said Buckley. “Once hypoxia symptoms are identified by the crew members, they execute their emergency procedures, donning appropriate aviation life support systems (ALSS). The change to more realistic scenario-based training builds muscle memory, crew and cockpit resource management and instills confidence in the ALSS.”
ASTC Norfolk is one of three training locations with an operational NHT, the other two are located at the ASTCs in Jacksonville, Fla. and Miramar, Calif. Having an NHT in Norfolk, however, increases the reach of NSTI’s improved, more relevant hypoxia training to a larger percentage of fixed wing, non-ejection seat aircrews in Navy.
“All C-2 and E-2 pilots and naval flight officers come through Norfolk for fleet aircraft training prior to reaching their ultimate duty station which gives us the ability to provide them the best training possible before they move onto the fleet,” said Buckley.
The mission of NSTI is to provide safe, effective and relevant aviation survival and human performance training as the execution arm of the Chief of Naval Operations-mandated Naval Aviation Survival Training Program (NASTP). The focus of this training is to enhance the operational readiness of the joint warfighter, to include designated aviators and aircrew (joint and allied), student aviators and aircrew (joint and allied), contract pilots, selected passengers, project specialists, VIP's, and USMC non-aircrew.
“The NHT helps ensure our training is safe,” said Kindling. “The NHT is effective in simulating the hypoxic environment and allows the instructors to monitor aircrew's oxygen saturation. Hypoxia training with the NHT is relevant and allows NSTI to provide a realistic, mask-off hypoxic experience to aircrew of multi-place aircraft who do not wear oxygen masks for routine flights.”
The Naval Survival Training Institute (NSTI) is a component of the Navy Medicine Operational Training Center (NMOTC) based in Pensacola, Florida. NSTI consists of a headquarters element and eight Aviation Survival Training Centers (ASTC's) located at Patuxent River, MD; Norfolk, VA; Cherry Point, NC; Jacksonville, FL; Pensacola, FL; Miramar, CA; Lemoore, CA; and Whidbey Island, WA.