Medical Evaluation of Airmen exposed to Supersonic Transport Altitudes: A Description of an Investigation into the Biomedical Aspects of High Altitude Flight

This paper describes an investigation into the ability of man to withstand the environmental stresses existing at the high altitudes associated with supersonic flight. The medical histories of a group of pilots who had been exposed to altitudes in excess of 50,000 ft. were compared with those of a control group whose flying had been confined to normal altitudes. The total exposure time of the test group was estimated to be in excess of 35,000 hours. Dr Charles I. Barron is the Medical Director of the Lockheed‐California Company. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, and he served as a flight surgeon in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He has been engaged in extensive research work and has published numerous papers on the effects of aircraft noise, microwave radiation, escape systems, decompression, and on various aspects of human engineering. He is a past president of the Aerospace Medical Association and has served on the National Research Council Committee. At present, he is the Chairman of the Research Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and Human Research for N.A.S.A. and Chairman of the Medical Advisory Council to the Federal Air Surgeon. He is a lecturer in aviation physiology in the Aerospace Safety Division at U.S.C., and an Associate Professor of Aerospace Pathology at U.C.L.A.