Development of a Critical Care Air Transport Team “Go Bag”: Slimming Down ICU Capability to Augment Pararescue or Civilian Contract Medical Evacuation Personnel

ABSTRACT Introduction Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCATT) is a three-person United States Air Force (USAF) medical asset, typically providing intercontinental medical evacuation on large military aircraft. The CCATT equipment Allowance Standard (AS) weighs approximately 272 kg (600 lbs). In austere locations, CCATT teams may augment contract medical evacuation (CME) personnel or Pararescue (PJ) in small aircraft with limited space for medical equipment. It was unknown what deployed PJ and CME carry within their packouts. We sought to design a packout or “Go Bag,” weighing less than 22.7 kg (50 lbs) and sourced from the CCATT AS, that a CCATT member could use to complement CME or PJ equipment to provide a higher level of care while limiting redundancy. Materials and Methods Equipment lists were obtained from a CME and PJs from two separate USAF squadrons. The equipment lists were combined to provide a reference for development of a CCATT Go Bag. Three members of a deployed CCATT team independently generated a list of necessary equipment from the CCATT AS. The list was peer reviewed by a separate, deployed CCATT team. Results A Go Bag was developed with the supplies and equipment necessary for video laryngoscopy, ventilation, invasive pressure monitoring, basic laboratory capability, chest tube placement, ultrasound, and advanced pharmacologic interventions. The Go Bag weighed 18.3 kg (40.4 lbs). A separate respiratory bag weighing 1.1 kg (2.4 lbs) was attached directly to a ventilator. Intravenous pumps and cardiac monitoring equipment were notable ICU equipment excluded from the Go Bag. Conclusion Major components of the CCATT AS can be reduced into a Go Bag and accompanying Ventilator Accessory Bag. This may benefit CCATT teams required to augment PJs or CME in small aircraft during prolonged field care scenarios.

Development of system for selecting suitable landing location inside the local hazard area

In the area of successful landing and guidance of the aircraft on the route, flight safety is perceived as the highest rate of observation of all operational-control functions of the aircraft. The given functions of the aircraft are observable and identifiable by the systems and cognitive perceptions of the pilot. Situational control of the aircraft on the route with the identification of the danger, into which the pilot can get is perceived as an exact element of failure. If the pilot enters such a situation, apriori solutions are offered to him/her by the aircraft information system. The character and emergency solution in the highest criticism of the failure of aircraft systems is the controlled landing in the local safety corridor when guiding the aircraft on the selected route. The aim of the article is the theory of the solution for the introduction of an assistance element in small aircraft with a description of the solution of autonomous choice of geolocation in a defined local environment. By a heuristic experiment in the article, let’s prove the methods of selection of geographical areas for landing an aircraft with the possibility of introduction into the aircraft information system. The article presents the methodology of creation autonomous assistance system, based on the measurement of detection areas for landing with the collection of data from the GIS system. This system can assist in pilot training and real flights for small aircraft without difficulty. The effectiveness of such system and the parameterization of its data were shown and proved. The developed models may be further used for creation an autonomous selection system in the event of accidental aircraft failures