The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-09-06
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
IN FORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
Washington. d. C.
NURSING THE AVIATORs.
d. c.

typesetters, poets and hoboes-"tem-
permanent This is indignantly de-
MED by officials of the bureau of mill
| itary aeronautics, who say that our
aviators are no more temperamental
than any other crowd of healthy, nor
NAL young men, living under a strain
particularly trying to the nervous sys-
tenn.
Yet it is a fact that the, aviator is
much more in need of careful medical
attention than the ordinary soldier.
A large proportion of his time is spent
at attitudes which cannot give his
| lungs the air element SO essential to
bodily vigor. The unnatural pastures
he is compelled at times to assume,
the attacks of dizziness which accom-
pany swift flying, and the debauch of
| sensation which goes with delicate
maneuvers in the air are not condu-
| Give to perfect nervous and physical
| equilibrium. THE aviator has become
/ an intricate, troublesome, highly SEN
| sitized piece of mechanism. AS a mas
| ter mechanic must be provided to care
| for the airplane, SO must master me-
chanic of another sort be on hand to
| care for the aviator.
Wherefore, the government has ap-
| pointed special corps of doctors and
| trainers for the work of caring for
and conditioning the flyers. The doc
| tors are known as flight surgeons"
! and the trainers are ranked as ply
| steal directors.
It is now believed by the bureau of
| military auronautics that an alarming
| percentage of airplane accidents is due
to nervousness or other disorder on the
| part of the flyer. It is also believed
that great number of men have been
! admitted to the aviation schools who,
| thru nervous and physical defects, are
| UNITED for the hazardous task of
| Tying. 1t will be part of the duty of
the flight surgeon" to detect such
men and recommend their transfer to
another branch of service.
| Each cadet who has "won his
wings in the air service is now re-
| quired to pass a newly instituted heart,
| ear, eye, and lung test of the most
rigid sort, before being commissioned
as a flying officer. This test is the re-
suit of long study and experimental
ton at the Hazlehurst Field Research
Laboratory. Mineola. N. Y. The test,
| hereafter, will be conducted by the
doctors appointed as flight surgeons.
1t will also be their duty to, institute
such measures as rest periods, recrea-
| ton, and temporary excuses from
| duty. The flight surgeon is to live
in close contact with the flyer, and to
discover and analyze his idiosyncracies.
| Even those flyers who are most per-
feet physically cannot stay in the rare
fled air 10000 feet up without severe
strain, and it has been found that
many seasoned pilots cannot undergo
quick changes in altitude, occasioned
by climbing and diving, without SINH
lar strain. Because of the danger of
submitting these men to actual flight
! tests was too great. the Medical Re-
search laboratory undertook to devise
a ground test which would give the
same result
The test they evolved is conducted
in the following manner: The pilot,
with his nostrils plugged so that he
cannot breathe thru~then, is placed in
a room with his examiners. An ap-
| paratus connected by tubes to a tank
/ of air is placed at his mouth. Each
breath taken by the pilot is measured
by instruments, and at various stages
| an analysis is made Of the air. His
exhalations are taken into another
| tank and relieved of carbon dioxide
| and then brought into the first tank.
| Thus the amount of oxygen in the
tank is gradually reduced, duplicating
/ the air conditions of high attitudes.
The examiners, all of them specialists,
keep careful watch on his heart, pulse
and blood pressure. Every three min
utes a test is taken of the eyes.
The pilot under test is compelled to
| give the same careful attention to
business as if he were guiding a plane.
A table with several small electric
light bulbs is put in front of him. and
every five seconds one of the bulbs is
lighted. The pilot must extinguish it
| instantly. All of his delays and err
rors are carefully checked by OBJ
servers.
At the side of the pilot is an am
| meter similar to the speed dial of a
plane. Turnout the test the pilot must
keep the indicator Of the dial at a con-
slant point. The point is changed by
| the examiners from time to time, and
| the pilot must make an immediate
correction. Both the ammeter and the
electric light bulbs he must control
with his right hand while his left is
used for the registration of his blood
| nv I.
thing like that of an auto accelerator.
he must keep the motor of an electric
fan at a constant speed.
The test requires about thirty min
utes. Toward the end the pilot usual
ly becomes droWsy from lack of oxy-
gen-the same effect as that produced
at attitudes where the oxygen is cor
respondingly scarce. This condition is
indicated in the action Of his heart,
eyes, ear and brain. He is apt to let
control of the electric bulbs. If his
pulse or respiration become too alb
normal, he is released from the test.
By these tests the classification of
the pilot is determined. The first
class is composed of men who can en-
dure an altitude of more than 10000
without fatigue. There are but few
such pilots. and most of them will be
designated to drive pursuit planes
when they reach the front. The Sec
ond class includes men who can en-
dure the attitudes of from $4,000 to
10000 feet. The third class consists
) of those who may fly between 10000
and $4,000 feet The fourth class in
cludes those who fly from the ground
to 5000 feet The test. however is
not a final criterion. Future tests
may shift the pilots from one class to
another.
One fact brought out by the tests
is that there were, and perhaps still
are, many men in the aviation camps
untitled to become flyers at ALL In
some quarters it is charged that i,
was part of German propaganda to
encourage unfit men to enter the air
service. The case of the deaf mutes
is one in point.
. Several hundred young deaf rnutes
, were advised to join the air service be.
cause, SO they were told, their defec
10 Wv