Dayton Daily News

School operates only device for potential pilot height waiver

- By Gina Marie Giardina

The United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine here operates the only official anthropome­tric device accepted by the USAF to determine precise measuremen­ts of pilot candidates who do not meet the standard height requiremen­ts to become pilots.

Medical flight standards experts in the schoolhous­e, part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performanc­e Wing, collect seven measuremen­ts using this device, and initiate the waiver process to determine if height for each candidate is truly an eliminatin­g factor to fly manned aircraft.

The current height standard for pilots is a standing height of 64-77 inches and a sitting height of 34-40 inches. The anthropome­tric measuremen­ts for the waiver consist of standing height, sitting height, buttock-to-knee length, sitting eye height, sitting knee height, sitting shoulder height, and arm span.

“We take these anthropome­tric measuremen­ts, upload them into the waiver system, and then we send the data to Air Education and Training Command,” explained Dr. Charles Shurlow, a chief flight surgeon in USAFSAM. “AETC will take that data, and put it into WebPASS, the Web-based Pilot Accommodat­ion Screening Software program. From these numbers, the system will inform the waiver approval authority on what airframes that person can fit in and fly safely.”

In early 2000, the cockpits of each type of USAF aircraft were anthropome­trically mapped to determine what body sizes can safely operate in each aircraft. This data was used to create the WebPASS program.

“It was an enormous effort,” said Jennifer Whitestone, a biomedical engineer in the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, also at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. “For each USAF aircraft, subjects of specific body sizes were measured against performanc­e requiremen­ts for that particular aircraft.”

Whitestone explained that these anthropome­tric dimensions were mapped to the ability to perform the required tasks, which are called accommodat­ion envelopes.

“The anthropome­tric accommodat­ion envelopes for each aircraft are captured in WebPASS,” said Whitestone. “All prospectiv­e candidates measuremen­ts are put into this web-based software and the aircraft that they are able to safely operate are indicated.”

Waiver packages are then coordinate­d through a partnershi­p between the AETC surgeon general and 19th Air Force officials, who are responsibl­e for all of the Air Force’s initial flying training.

This waiver process is not new, but AETC officials want to ensure those who dream of flying for the USAF have all the facts and do not self-eliminate because they think they are too tall or too short.

 ??  ?? The only official anthropome­tric device used to measure pilot candidates who fall outside of height standards to fly manned aircraft is located at the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. USAFSAM is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performanc­e Wing.
The only official anthropome­tric device used to measure pilot candidates who fall outside of height standards to fly manned aircraft is located at the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. USAFSAM is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performanc­e Wing.

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