A realistic high-altitude chamber program for pilots of high-performance aircraft is now available through a partnership of Daher and the Southern AeroMedical Institute (SAMI).
By equipping SAMI’s automated hyper/hypobaric chamber in Melbourne, Florida, with a fixed-based TBM 850 cockpit simulator, this new program will help pilots better understand the dangers of hypoxia – or altitude sickness – conditions while operating high-performance airplanes, Daher officials said.
Incorporated in the TBM 850 simulator are a Garmin G1000 glass cockpit and Zodiac Aerospace oxygen mask system.
The program consists of two hours of lecture on the subject of “slow onset hypoxia” by neurologist Dr. Paul Buza, an hour-long pre-flight orientation with the cockpit simulator, along with one hour of simulated flight with the TBM 850 training device in hypoxia-creating high-altitude conditions, followed by a one-hour post-flight review of oxygen saturation profiles.
Upon completion of the training, participants receive a high-altitude chamber certificate, a flight training booklet, an FAA/Industry Training Standards (FITS) certificate, a logbook sign-off and a video recorded during the simulated flight.
SAMI was founded at the Florida Institute of Technology by Buza to explore hyperbaric medicine, wound therapy and aviation flight physiology.