The work of the R. A. F. Institute of Aviation Medicine

The Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine is located within the perimeter of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough as a lodger unit of the Air Ministry. It was first established in 1939, under the direction of Professor Sir Bryan Matthews, and its aim today is exactly that of early war years, namely, to investigate those factors which impair the efficiency of flying personnel in flight, and impair their chances of safety or survival in emergencies in flight or thereafter on the sea or land. In the United Kingdom it is the main laboratory carrying out such work, and thus has come to be the chief source of biological knowledge to the aircraft industry. With regard to giving advice to the Royal Air Force, the Institute is a part of the entire medical branch, but works closely through Flying Personnel Medical Officers, who are responsible for carrying out investigations at the operational squadrons. These officers can interpret directly the biological advice which results from studies in the Institute, but there are no comparable links in industry in this country.

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Murray ◽  
Kin Bong Hubert Lam ◽  
David McLoughlin ◽  
Steven S. Sadhra

2015 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-187
Author(s):  
A Wrigley

AbstractHypoxia training at the Royal Air Force Centre of Aviation Medicine (RAF CAM) has traditionally involved the use of a hypobaric chamber to induce hypoxia. While giving the student experience of both hypoxia and decompression, hypobaric chamber training is not without risks such as decompression sickness and barotrauma. This article describes the new system for hypoxia training known as Scenario-Based Hypoxia Training (SBHT), which involves the subject sitting in an aircraft simulator and wearing a mask linked by hose to a Reduced Oxygen Breathing Device (ROBD). The occupational requirements to be declared fit for this new training method are also discussed.


1957 ◽  
Vol 61 (555) ◽  
pp. 181-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Allen

The 1,000th Lecture to be given before the Society and the 27th Main Lecture to be held at a Branch of the Society was held under the auspices of the Henlow Branch. The lecture, “Rocket Engines,” was given by Mr. S. Allen, F.R.Ae.S., on 11th October 1956. Professor A. J. Murphy, A.F.R.Ae.S., President of the Henlow Branch, opened the meeting, and Mr. E. T. Jones, C.B., O.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., President of the Society, presided for the rest of the meeting.Professor A. J. Murphy: Tonight they had the great honour of welcoming to Henlow for the first time the parent body of the Royal Aeronautical Society for a Main Society Lecture. On behalf of the Branch he welcomed the President, Mr. E. T. Jones, several Members of Council and other members of the Royal Aeronautical Society.He had been asked to introduce Mr. Jones, and of all the redundant things that he had been called upon to do, that was the most unnecessary. All of them were aware of Mr. Jones' distinguished career in aeronautics and would forgive him, as he knew Mr. Jones would, if he did not enlarge on that aspect. However, there were a large number of people both from the Royal Air Force and the Ministry of Supply present and it seemed appropriate to recall that Mr. Jones served as a pilot and flying instructor in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force until 1919. Thereafter he joined the Aerodynamics Department of the R.A.E. at Farnborough and since then, as they knew well, he had played an increasingly distinguished part in the experimental establishments connected with the Aircraft Industry and the Royal Air Force and in the field of Aircraft Research and Development. This year, in addition to being elected President of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Mr. Jones became the Director-General of Technical Development (Air) in the Ministry of Supply.Mr. E. T. Jones: This was the first Main Lecture of the Society to be held at the Henlow Branch and in that respect the evening was an historical one.The practice of holding Main Lectures of the Society at Branches was started in 1948 and the underlying idea was to take the Society to the Branches.In all, some two dozen Main Lectures had now been given at one or other of the twenty-four Branches of the Society and it gave him much pleasure to see such a large attendance.This was but the second Main Lecture of the season and curiously enough it was the second to be held at a Branch, This fact caused him to look more closely at the lecture programme and he found that four Main Lectures out of a total of nine this season would be held at the Branches. Thus the Council was doing its best to bring the Society more and more into contact with the Branches and this must surely be a good thing for all those who were interested in aeronautics.He hoped, too. that it would encourage more of the aeronautically minded to attend those of the Main Lectures which were to be held in London.Now it was his pleasant duty to introduce the lecturer.Mr. Sidney Allen was a Fellow of the Society and had had thirty years' continuous experience in the design, research and development of all forms of internal combustion engines for aircraft. For twenty years he had been with Armstrong Siddeley Motors and over the past seven years he had been Chief Engineer of their Rocket Engine Division.He thought he would be right in saying that few people could have more experience in the United Kingdom of rocket engines and he had much pleasure in calling on Mr. Sidney Allen to give his paper.


Despite terrorist bombs and structural failures, human error on the flight deck continues to account for the majority of aircraft accidents. The Royal Air Force (RAF) Institute of Aviation Medicine (IAM) has investigated the psychology of such error since the early 1970s, and to this end has used two principal techniques. The first has involved assisting in the official inquiries into both RAF and civil flying accidents, and the second has involved setting up a reporting system that permits any commercial pilot to report his own everyday errors, in complete confidence, to the RAF IAM. The latter system possesses the clear benefit of gathering error data untainted by considerations of culpability, and sometimes permits system rectification before the occurrence of accidents. This paper examines selected examples of errors associated with the design of equipment and with the social psychology of crews, and suggests that some consideration of the psychology of organizations may be necessary to ensure that the problems of human error are given the degree of consideration they require.


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