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10 39 14.Saptambar 56.. ij Subject: Conferenca on Aircrew' Viabillty and Perrornanca Monitoring. L to: Life Sciences: Resaarch Advisory Group. L 一 i A. Backaround Information:

4 periodically been focussed on the problam of determining, as a functi
of time and place in the flight path, tha precise state of an aizcrew members consciousnass.and purposeful rasponsivengss.
zi Although a wide ranga of; psychophysiologic parameters have been
studied and many diffsrent technics of remots monitoring have
been attsmptad,  the fact remains that,to date,there is no proven operationally usuable system available.
a!

7 2. Currently the anly seliable (reasonably) msars ofi determining the pilat's state of:functional rasponsiveness :is by voica communications with him through the radio link. If for any reason voice communicätions are lost by virtue of range, spherics, power failurs or 'things happening too fast in the cockpit for the pilot to use the cadio' then, in the event Df a fatal accident, ths true status of the pilot throughout the tarminal emergency period may never be known.: It is aiwell-known Pact that a slgnificant per centage of fatal accidents are listad as 'couse unknown.' As acorollary to this latter. fact is:the rathsr dublous indirect inferenca which is drawn to tha factor of 'pilot error' or 'hypoxia' asbeing the basic causativs factor all of which might well constitute a conpletely erroneous:conclusion. 1 1

3. Newcomers to theriald of physiologic manitoring are Fraquent perplexed as to why, with all ofithe work going on in NASa, DOo & NIh R&D groups, wa have yet to fly an oparstionally proven and 1reliaole systam. The simplest reply to such a query is to stata that ino systam thus far has bean abla to satisfy all the requirements l(and constraints imposed) set by:such Factors as; pilot comfort & mobility; aircraft elactronics & poger supply; reliability of the indicator(s) providad to tha:monitor at his observation post. iIt is unfortcnatoly true:that with all or the equipmant, personnel and flying hours available to those of us in the Armed Services, we hove yel to justify and mount a prigam which, over a pariod of reasoble time, would giva us a usabia solution to this vesy iimportant prcblem. Porhapg, sith tha newly-injected interest of the FAA and the Commercial Airlines generated by Porthcoming iflight test and bperational use of the SuperSonic Transport, we may be able to focalize our interests and integrate our !resources in a more productive program than we have had in the past.

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2. Subjact population for use by Dr. Igroup in Etheir Further axperimental studies is largely composad of ;flying personnel and air traffic control₃rs, thg majority of whom hava Sesn followed by the GcR for at least 4 years. Additional subjects are readily availabla from the studert body and also as volunteers fron the local govsrnment orgaiizations. 1

3. Within the abovs subject p5pulation group are a numbsr of individuals with proven coronary disgase who have been quita extensiuely studied on a contsnuing basis. Displsying a wide variaty of 'patterns' of cardio-vascular malfunction in the form of electro-mechanical and acoustical abnormalities, they provide a templata of sorts against which can be measurad cartain patterns of early changes In 'normal' individuals whyChmay prove useful in prsdicting 'prs-coronary' susceptibility. si i

J 4. Based on a.pramise-that these same aarly, abnormal responses Infound in both aged pllots and thoss with coronary diseasa might be Indicativa of degradad cardio-vascular runction in a younger individual with poor, Intrinsic strass-response charactaristics, it would appaar Feasibla'and potsntially valuabla to join with this group, in the furtherance of.our own studies. i

S. In addition, (to the reason given in f4' above) it would be equally valuable Por Ito have immadiately available, a complataly equippad and operating laboratoty research Pacility which would allow a quick reacting capability to asses and svaluats new technics and procadures for possible Purther devekopement and opsratioaal trial.

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