ABSTRACT
Since man first flew in a powered aircraft in 1903, he has had to perform flying tasks in a 1 G environment — macrogravity. Macrogravity poses problems to the human physiologically, ergonomically and cognitively. Physiologically, the human loses eye-level blood pressure at 22 mmHg/G as G increases from 1.0 to 9.0, for example in the F-16 aircraft. To maintain consciousness and perform in the high G environment, the human must be protected against the effects of high G. Ergonomically, the human gets heavier as G increases. A 200 lb man weighs 1800 lb at 9 G! Arms, legs and head are heavier, and tasks such as flipping switches on the instrument panel require trajectory strategy and practice with a 10 lb arm that now weighs 90 lb. Cognitively, the loss of eye-level blood pressure and reduced eye-brain-level arterial oxygen saturation (80%) relate to flying performance decrement. What can be done to counter these effects of high G? Modern air forces have developed countermeasures to these performance effects of high G environments.
