The objective of this study was to examine the effect of fluid intake and possible dehydration on cognitive flight performance of pilots. A repeated-measures, counterbalanced, mixed study design was used to examine differences in working memory, spatial orientation, and cognitive flight performance of 40 randomly selected healthy pilots after having high and low fluid intakes. Serial weights were also analyzed to determine differences in cognitive flight performance of the dehydrated (1-3% weight loss) and hydrated study participants. Results showed flight performance and spatial cognition test scores were significantly (p < 0.05) poorer for pilots who had low fluid intakes and experienced dehydration in comparison to the hydrated pilots. These findings indicate fluid intake differences resulting in dehydration may have safety implications because peak cognitive performance among pilots is critical for flight safety.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of diet on cognition and flight performance of 45 pilots. Based on a theory of self-care, this clinical study used a repeated-measure, counterbalanced crossover design. Pilots were randomly rotated through 4-day high-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat, and control diets. Cognitive flight performance was evaluated using a GAT-2 full-motion flight simulator. The Sternberg short-term memory test and Vandenberg's mental rotation test were used to validate cognitive flight test results. Pilots consuming a high-protein diet had significantly poorer (p < .05) overall flight performance scores than pilots consuming high-fat and high-carbohydrate diets.

Highly-trained employees are essential to airports and aviation organizations.It is very important for managers as well as peers to recognize post traumatic stress reactions or symptoms that employees may display when they have attended to a natural or manmade disaster.This research project has identified and documented that many organizations practice the first-response activities associated with a traumatic event, but engage in little or no training for the recovery phase of the event/incident, which may last a long period of time.The research has identified many strategies which should edify and augment a mental health recovery plan (MHRP) so that an employees' natural resiliency is enhanced, or those that are unable to return to normal function can be identified and receive the necessary mental health attention.

This study examined the impact of alcohol hangover on flight performance 11 hr after ingestion of alcohol. The participants were 36 instrument-rated and instrument-current male pilots who were 21 to 35 years of age, recruited from the Odegard Center for Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or 2 or 3 ml/kg of 100 proof Vodka the evening before their flights were scheduled. After alcohol was administered, participants were provided sleeping accommodations and breakfast the next morning. Starting at 8 a.m. participants were asked to fly two 75-min scenarios on a Frasca 241 simulator. Performance deficits were observed on measures of rate of turn and bank for the group who had ingested the largest dose of ethanol. In addition, participants in this group correctly carried out fewer directives from the air traffic controller than those who received the placebo or the 2 ml/kg dose. The hangover-induced deficits observed may have been larger if participants were tested at a simulated altitude. The necessity of measuring biological indexes of hangover are discussed.

Previous work has documented cognitive deficits at high altitudes (15,000-25,000 ft), but there is controversy for lower altitudes. This study looked at the effects of moderate altitudes--12,500 ft and 15,000 ft--on short-term memory in comparison to 2,000 ft. Seventy-two student pilots and instructors were first administered the Vocabulary, Digit Span, and Digit Symbol subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised, the Vandenberg Mental Rotation Test, and the near-contrast sensitivity portion of the Vistech VCTS 6000 chart. Participants then spent 1 1/2 hr at their designated altitude for cognitive testing. Participants performed a 30 min vigilance task while listening to an audiotape with instructions to recall radio calls prefaced by their assigned call sign. Half of the radio calls were high memory loads (at least 4 pieces of information), and half were low memory loads (no more than 2 pieces of information). No effects of altitude were found in performance on the Vigilance task. However, for readbacks of high memory load, significant deficits in recall were observed at 12,500 ft and 15,000 ft, whereas no effect of altitude was observed on recall of readbacks with low memory loads. These results indicate that, at altitude, short-term memory was exceeded for the readbacks requiring a larger amount of information to be recalled, and that cognitive deficits are found at lower altitudes than previously observed.