AOP displays capabilities during Airshow

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Daniel Lile
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Aerospace and physiology specialists displayed survival and aerial sickness techniques to the public during the 2014 Columbus AFB Open House and Air Show.

"There are multiple stresses and human performance factors of modern flight, said Airman 1st Class Destiny Morris, 14th Medical Operations Squadron. "We train pilots how to meet these challenges successfully."

AOP specialists showed the public just what pilots go through while experiencing air sickness; and how they overcome the unique challenges that go with along with flying.

"Our main attraction at our display during the 2014 Columbus AFB Open House and Air Show was our Barney Chair," said Senior Airman Kyle Nason, 14th MDOS. "The Barney Chair combats aerial sickness and shows pilots different disorientations or illusions that they can feel while flying. The Barney Chair has a 98 percent rate with overcoming air sickness."

AOP specialists not only showed the public on Columbus AFB how to overcome air sickness but showed them survival skills as well.

"Here in physiology we teach many different things such as egress, how to get outside the aircraft by ejection and local area survival," said Nason. "So if one of our pilots went down near Columbus, Miss. and we were having trouble finding them they would be able to survive until they were found."

One of the ways AOP specialists taught spectators to survive was by showing, building and displaying miniature survival shelter replicas.

"We displayed miniature replicas of survival shelters," said Nason. "We displayed desert and arctic shelters where the service member uses the resources around them, to include their parachute, to make a shelter. The arctic one is particularly interesting because you can use the snow around you in your shelter as insulation."

From using snow as insulation to keep a service member warm to keeping calm while pulling seven G-forces aerospace and physiology specialist showed the public how to survive an emergency situation at the Open House and Air Show.