Spring Research Project

Angels of the Sky
For hundreds of years man has been enamored with flight, going as far as strapping homemade wings to their arms and jumping off of roof tops, and cliffs. Man has had a passion to push the bounds of earth. Today’s jets do just that, capable of traveling over three to four times the speed of sound and fly up to eight miles above the earth. Has the thought ever crossed your mind though of who says the pilot is fit to fly? That is where the flight surgeon’s come in. They are some of the most educated and brilliant men and women in the world.
The term flight surgeon was first coined in the early days of 1918 when the U.S. Army still had control over America’s flying force. The flight surgeons of the day were around to manage problems of medical screening and standards for aviators. However, since flight was still relatively new to man especially in combat, the flight surgeons were tasked with finding out why the military had so many flight mishap rates. The result was astounding within a few months the flight surgeons had identified the phenomena’s that we know today as spatial disorientation, hypoxia, and medical effects of G-forces, and the mishap rates fell dramatically.
But what does it take to be a flight surgeon? Well first you have to be a doctor, and for that you need superb ACT scores and a medical school that both you like and will accept you. Second, you have to take the entrance exams and pass them. After that is completed you will spend four years learning how to be the absolute best doctor in the world, hopefully. Once that is done you can apply to the Air Force and enter as a Captain and attend a six week basic training, where you will be instructed in the role of an officer and the core values of the Air Force. Finally after completion of the basic training you attend the Aerospace Medicine School at Joint Reserve Base Sam Brooks in Texas “Home of the Flight Surgeons,” here you will attend a three month course in being a flight...