Physiological Factors Analysis in Unpressurized Aircraft Cabins

Amateur and sports flight is an activity with growing numbers worldwide. However, the main cause of flight incidents and accidents is increasingly pilot error, for a number of reasons. Fatigue, sleep issues and hypoxia, among many others, are some that can be avoided, or, at least, mitigated. This a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOpen Engineering (Warsaw) Vol. 6; no. 1
Main Authors Patrao, Luis, Zorro, Sara, Silva, Jorge
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published De Gruyter Open 01.01.2016
De Gruyter
Subjects
Aerospace medicine
hypoxia
light aviation
physiology
ultralight
workload
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Summary:Amateur and sports flight is an activity with growing numbers worldwide. However, the main cause of flight incidents and accidents is increasingly pilot error, for a number of reasons. Fatigue, sleep issues and hypoxia, among many others, are some that can be avoided, or, at least, mitigated. This article describes the analysis of psychological and physiological parameters during flight in unpressurized aircraft cabins. It relates cerebral oximetry and heart rate with altitude, as well as with flight phase. The study of those parameters might give clues on which variations represent a warning sign to the pilot, thus preventing incidents and accidents due to human factors. Results show that both cerebral oximetry and heart rate change along the flight and altitude in the alert pilot. The impaired pilot might not reveal these variations and, if this is detected, he can be warned in time.
ISSN:2391-5439
2391-5439
DOI:10.1515/eng-2016-0052