Dr. Frederick Patterson, Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (NAMRL) researcher and spatial disorientation expert, has been at the leading edge of a paradigm shift in the understanding of aviation spatial awareness and spatial disorientation. Leveraging new discoveries on the mechanisms of spatial awareness, NAMRL has developed novel, cutting-edge multimedia training techniques for prevention of spatial disorientation-related aviation mishaps.
Several of these new techniques have been incorporated into training and curriculum models requested by Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and the Naval Survival Training Institute (NSTI) for use in aircrew physiology and survival training. The request followed the release of a recent Office of the Secretary of Defense study which stated that “80 percent of the U.S. military’s 320 rotorcraft crashes during the last decade have been caused by degraded visual conditions.”
NSTI is a component of the Naval Operational Medicine Institute based in Pensacola, Fla. NSTA consists of a headquarters element and eight Aviation Survival Training Centers located at Patuxent River, Md.; Norfolk, Va.; Cherry Point, N.C.; Jacksonville and Pensacola, Fla.; Miramar and Lemoore, Cal.; and Whidbey Island, Wash.
Dr. Patterson proposed a brownout training model to the NSTI team of directors tasked with reviewing the concepts that define NAMRL’s innovative approach to training. NSTI representatives unanimously accepted the new approach, launching a new direction for spatial disorientation/spatial awareness training.
According to NAMRL Scientific Director Dr. Richard Arnold, when asked about the significance of this decision, “The decision marks a fundamental change and improvement with regard to how spatial and situational awareness teaching methods will be incorporated and presented to the fleet through the Navy and Marine Corps’ aeromedical safety programs. Acceptance of this new direction toward recognizing and preventing cognitive threats such as spatial disorientation validates the research concepts NAMRL has been working on, in earnest, for the past three years.”
According to NAMRL researchers, the end result of this effort should be significant improvements in cockpit design that will lead to greater human/machine compatibility, decrease pilot workload, and improved margins of flight safety. The new training techniques will be incorporated into the NSTI training curricula in 2011.
The Naval Medical Research Center is a premier research organization with a vision: World-class, operationally relevant health and medical research solutions – anytime, anywhere! Research focuses on finding solutions to both traditional battlefield medical problems, such as bleeding, traumatic brain injury, combat stress, and naturally occurring infectious diseases, as well as to health problems associated with non-conventional weapons, including thermobaric blast, biological agents, and radiation.
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