[Rhodes22-list] Flying - Enough!

[Brad Haslett]

Getting a checkride in a sim every six months isn't all that bad,
ditto a medical exam.  I don't mind the EKG's now that they don't use
those sticky suction cups.  The cups they use for piss tests aren't
THAT small.  Scheduled annual line checks, random FAA line checks and
ramp checks, cockpit voice recorders, flight data recorders, calls
from dispatch, FBI fingerprinting, etc., all part of the job - "if you
can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen". All the bells and
whistles, talking boxes, warning lights, and so on - wonderful stuff!
BUT, the day I show for work and they try and fit me for one of these
things I'm out the door and headed for early retirement.

Brad

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Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/27/nasa_brain_monitor_hats/
NASA developing brain-monitor hats for airline pilots

'YOU ARE OVERSTRESSED! YOU ARE OVERSTRESSED!'

By Lewis Page

Posted in Space, 27th November 2008 10:11 GMT



US aerospace agency NASA has announced that it is developing a
brain-monitoring hat for airline pilots to wear. The idea is that the
bonce-clocking headset will know when pilots become "mentally
overloaded" and help them to "realise" this.

The brain-titfers are being developed at NASA's Glenn Research Center
using "functional near infrared spectroscopy" (fNIRS, apparently) and
"other imaging technology". The spectroscope hats work by measuring
blood flow in the cortex and the concentration of oxygen in the blood.
NASA describes them as "non-invasive, safe, portable and inexpensive".
The kit is being tried out on guinea-pig pilots in simulators at
Glenn.

"No matter how much training pilots have, conditions could occur when
too much is going on in the cockpit," said NASA biomedical engineer
Angela Harrivel.

"What we hope to achieve by this study is a way to sensitively - and,
ultimately, unobtrusively - determine when pilots become mentally
overloaded ... Flying an aircraft involves multitasking that
potentially can push the limits of human performance," she adds.

There's no word on just how the mindprobe hats would actually help a
maxed-out pilot to cope. Presumably triggering flashing lights and a
loud recorded voice repeatedly shouting "YOU ARE MENTALLY OVERLOADED!
CALM DOWN!" wouldn't actually be of much assistance.

Perhaps some kind of mechanical arm able to slap a panicking flyboy
round the chops or throw water in his face might be in order. NASA are
obviously still working on this bit.

There's more from NASA on the Integrated Intelligent Flight Deck
project - which oversees the brain-hat tech - here
(http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/avsafe/iifd/).(R)