Night flying operations

INTRODUCTION: Successful military aviation operations depend on maintaining continuous day-night operations. Stimulants are easy to use and popular for sustaining performance because their utility is not dependent upon environmental or scheduling modifications. Dextroamphetamine is authorized for use by the aircrews of all U.S. military services, but its potential for abuse and subsequent addiction is of aeromedical concern. Finding an alternative stimulant, such as modafinil, that displays a low affinity for dopamine uptake binding sites would prove extremely beneficial...

The downstream movement, or drift, of larval black flies as well as many other aquatic insects has been well documented. This phenomenon has most often been associated with the dusk-to-overnight time frame. Operationally, larvicide applications targeting black flies are typically initiated early in the day and can extend until near sunset. To determine if larvicide applications conducted late in the day would be affected by the drift behavior of larval black flies, 6 larvicide applications were conducted. Three applications were conducted at midmorning and 3 during the evening...

Operators of early weather-surveillance radars often observed echoes on their displays that did not behave like weather pattern, including expanding ring-like shapes they called angels. These echoes were caused by high-flying insects, migrating birds, and large colonies of bats emerging from roosts to feed. Modern weather-surveillance radar stations in the United States (NEXt-generation RADar or NEXRAD) provide detailed images that clearly show evening bat emergences from large colonies. These images can be used to investigate the flight behavior of groups of bats and population trends in large colonies of Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) in south-central Texas which are clearly imaged by local NEXRAD radar stations...

In this study, we examined the effect of weather and moon illumination on sand fly activity, as measured by light trap collections made between 2 May 2003 and 25 October 2004 at Tallil Air Base, Iraq. Wind speed, temperature, dew point, percentage of sky cover, and moon illumination were entered into principal components analysis. The resulting principal components were entered into stepwise regression to develop a model of the impact of the weather on sand fly collections. Wind speed, percentage of sky cover, and moon illumination each had a strong inverse relationship with the number of sand flies collected, whereas temperature displayed a direct relationship to sand fly collections...

BACKGROUND: Air ambulance operations in the Arctic have to deal with remote locations, long distances, rough weather conditions, seasonable darkness, and almost no alternative for landing. Despite these challenges, people expect high quality, specialist health care. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyse air ambulance operations due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the Arctic and employ the result as an instrument for future suggestions. Melting ice in the Arctic Sea opens new prospects for shipping, adventures, and oil/gas industry...

INTRODUCTION: We investigated the effect of an additional day's layover on reducing fatigue in two different duties: a two-pilot crew flying between Auckland and Brisbane, and a three-pilot crew flying between Auckland and Los Angeles. METHODS: Pilots completed a reaction time task, the Samn-Perelli fatigue scale, and the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale on both outward and return flights. The flights were conducted with and without a 1-d layover (Brisbane) and with a 1- or 2-d layover (Los Angeles)...

The sex pheromone of Stenoma catenifer was evaluated in commercial avocado orchards in Guatemala to determine operational parameters, such as optimal lure type, trap height, trap density and estimates of the distances that male moths fly. Of four pheromone dispensers tested, gray and white rubber septa were of equal efficacy, whereas 1-ml low-density polyethylene vials and 2×3-cm polyethylene ziplock bags were least efficacious. The height at which wing traps were hung did not significantly affect the number of adult male S...

General sleep-related experiences (Watson, 2001), including special dream states such as elevated dream recall, nightmares, hypnagogic hallucinations, flying dreams, and waking dreams, have been shown to be associated with life stress and psychopathological distress (Soffer-Dudek & Shahar, 2009). In this study, we attempted to examine these associations within the context of terror-related stress. In the week following operation Oferet Yetzuka in Israel, ninety-one participants filled out questionnaires concerning sleep experiences, psychopathological distress, and degree of exposure to terror...

BACKGROUND: Bangladesh, India and Nepal are working towards the elimination of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) by 2015. In 2005 the World Health Organization/Training in Tropical Diseases launched an implementation research programme to support integrated vector management for the elimination of VL from Bangladesh, India and Nepal. The programme is conducted in different phases, from proof-of-concept to scaling up intervention. This study was designed in order to evaluate the efficacy of the three different interventions for VL vector management: indoor residual spraying (IRS); long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLIN); and environmental modification (EVM) through plastering of walls with lime or mud...

INTRODUCTION: A new noise-reduced landing approach was tested--a Segmented Continuous Descent Approach (SCDA)-with regard to the resulting workload on pilots. METHODS: Workload of 40 pilots was measured using physiological (heart rate, blood pressure, blink frequency, saliva cortisol concentration) and psychological (fatigue, sleepiness, tension, and task load) parameters. Approaches were conducted in A320 and A330 full-flight simulators during night shift. SCDA was compared to the standard Low Drag Low Power (LDLP) procedure as reference...

Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) light traps were modified for use with light-emitting diodes (LED) and compared against a control trap (incandescent light) to determine the effectiveness of blue, green, and red lights against standard incandescent light routinely used for sand fly surveillance. Light traps were baited with dry ice and rotated through a 4 x 4 Latin square design during May, June, and July, 2006. Trapping over 12 trap nights yielded a total of 2,298 sand flies in the village of Bahrif, 6 km north of Aswan on the east bank of the Nile River in southern Egypt...

BACKGROUND: Annually, there are about 80,000 helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) missions for patients in Germany. In comparison to the commercial transport of passengers, the risk of aviation crashes increases during rescue operations. The aim of this study was to evaluate helicopter crashes related to HEMS in Germany within a 6-year period (1999-2004) and to analyze contributing factors. METHODS: Flight crashes were identified in the annually published flight crash reports of the Federal Agency for Flight Accident Investigation...

CDC miniature light traps were used to evaluate the general biology of phlebotomine sand flies from April 2003 to November 2004 at Tallil Air Base, Iraq. Factors evaluated include species diversity and temporal (daily and seasonal) and geographic distribution of the sand flies. In addition, the abundance of sand flies inside and outside tents and buildings was observed. In total, 61,630 sand flies were collected during 1,174 trap nights (mean 52 per trap, range 0-1,161), with 90% of traps containing sand flies...

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of bio-mathematical models to predict alertness, performance, and/or fatigue in operational settings. Current models use only biological factors to make their estimations, which can be limited in operational settings where social and geo-physical factors also dictate when sleep occurs. The interaction between social and biological factors that help determine the timing and duration of sleep during layover periods have been investigated in order to create and initially validate a mathematical model that may better predict sleep in the field...

Inter-individual differences in tolerance for shift work have been studied primarily in terms of external factors affecting alertness on the job or the ability to rest and sleep while at home. However, there is increasing evidence that neurobiological factors play a role as well, particularly the major processes involved in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness. These include a sleep homeostatic process seeking to balance wakefulness and sleep and a circadian process seeking to promote wakefulness during the day and sleep during the night...

We have been the first to investigate whether long-lived geese and ducks can detect and avoid a large offshore wind farm by tracking their diurnal migration patterns with radar. We found that the percentage of flocks entering the wind farm area decreased significantly (by a factor 4.5) from pre-construction to initial operation. At night, migrating flocks were more prone to enter the wind farm but counteracted the higher risk of collision in the dark by increasing their distance from individual turbines and flying in the corridors between turbines...

The vertical distribution of mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae) was evaluated in Paju County in northern South Korea by using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) miniature light traps with ultraviolet light and dry ice (CO2) as attractants. CDC traps were placed at 1, 3 and 5 m above the ground near rice paddies in a relatively open agricultural ara. Traps wer hung on two scaffold towers (6 m height) spaced approximately 300 m aprt. Each trap operated 9 nights from August 3 to 16, 2002, and collected 9,971 mosquitoes: Aedes Vexans nipponii, 145...

One of the most significant modern day efforts to prevent and control an arthropod-borne disease during a military deployment occurred when a team of U.S. military entomologists led efforts to characterize, prevent, and control leishmaniasis at Tallil Air Base (TAB), Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Soon after arriving at TAB on 22 March 2003, military entomologists determined that 1) high numbers of sand flies were present at TAB, 2) individual soldiers were receiving many sand fly bites in a single night, and 3) Leishmania parasites were present in 1...

Flying directly from its home station in Vicenza, Italy, the 173rd Airborne Brigade committed itself to the invasion of Iraq on the night of March 26, 2003. Representing the establishment of a northern front, approximately 1,000 paratroopers jumped into an isolated valley on a mission to secure and to hold the Bashur airstrip. This article describes the unique challenges of medical preparation for the mission, injuries sustained on the jump, and lessons learned. Emphasis is placed on the use of a policy of delayed evacuation until clarification of diagnosis...

Helicopter pilots are some of the hardest working human operators, because of the machine's inherant instability and control problems. This article covers some aspects where ergonomists might help to improve the overall system. After considering basic differences between helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, the author examines controls, where there are prospects of using miniature hand levers; cockpit vision and displays with particular reference to night and instrument flying; seating and vibration where the effects of protective clothing and harnesses are considered; and cabin noise from the engine, transmission and intercom systems...