Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1918-05-16
STUDENT FLYERS :
WELL CARED FOR.
UNCLE SAM PROVIDES SPECIAL
MEDICAL ATTENTION FOR THEM
AT EACH OF THE CAMPS
FLIGHT SURGEONS NAMED.

ATLANTIC CITY, May 16.-Chance
of accident to American flying aces
in the making has been reduced nearly
80 Per cent by lew system of train
ing end treatment put into effect b.
the medical corps of the army, after
months of careful study of the ma
tons young manhood enlisted in the
aerial service 1t was revived here to-
day by medical officers speaking before
the closing sessions of the forty-fourth
annual convention Of the American
Neurological Association at the Hotel
Traymore.
The medical corps, in its effort to
make the American aviator the best
In the world, has come to the conclu
sion that the aviator must be con-
sidered as something different and
apart" from all others in the fighting
forces, according to Col Theodore c.
Work of the Aviation Section Signal
Corps, U. S. A."
The officers and medical men had
found that looking after him in the
same way as any other soldier re-
duces his efficiency" and the only
way to produce a real aviator is to
treat him on an entirely different
plane This is now being done.
The first step has been to appoint
a flight surgeon" whose sole duty is
to obtain the confidence of the men
in his unit, study them individually
and learn Their types SO that he
knows just how TO handle them. In
addition, coaches from the colleges
and athletic trainers are being made
assistants to the flight surgeons, and
between them they give the cadet
flyer a nerve and athletic training
somewhat similar to that adopted for
sport in the colleges.
The fight surgeon is relieved of all
details ordinarily part of the duties
of a post surgeon. His sole job is to
supervise the mental and physical
well being of the cadets from the
time they enter until they leave the
school as they finish aviators.
The men are carefully examined
to the air and undergo another ex-
animation when they alight, so the
surgeon has charts which tell him
the exact conditions and symptoms
stress. This record gives the COM
handing officers Of a unit inside in
formation of each of his aviators, so
he knows just which men are pecu-
liarly fitted for any particular kind
of work"
By this system the efficiency of the
corps is not only greatly increased
but it makes it rare thing when a
boy not fit to fly will be permitted to
20 up, Col. Lyster said. These charts
are among the most comprehensive in
the army.
The popular belief that the aviator
is subjected to practically the some
conditions in soring to high alti-
tudes as the person climbing noun
tain is erroneous, according to Lieut..
Col George S. Dryer, consultant to
the Flying Corps, British expedi-
tionary forces, speaking a Medical
Aviation Problems in Active Service"
The birdman is subject to more
rapid changes of altitude, his plane
is moving swiftly up and down with
the air currents and his pulse is ac-
tolerated as the mounts at high speed
into the rarified atmosphere, where
his heart must pump faster to supply
the difference in oxygen he can OBJ
tain from the lighter air
Lieut. Col Dryer also brought out
the point that in the chair whirl, used
to test the equilibrium of the cadet,
the student is almost always more
sensitive to the change when the
chair swings to the right than when
he is whidled to the left but science
cannot explain it. The man who is
most sensitive to the changes makes
the best aviator, because his senses
are more highly attuned to the con-
ditions that he will meet in the air,
he declared