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Heat Stress Evaluation of Special Operations Aviation Regiment and Air Warrior Concept 1 and 3 Aviator Ensembles in a UH-60 Simulator
Heat Stress Evaluation of Special Operations Aviation Regiment and Air Warrior Concept 1 and 3 Aviator Ensembles in a UH60 Simulator Author:Matthew J. Reardon, Lawrence Katz, Beth Frazer This is a ARMY AEROMEDICAL RESEARCH LAB FORT RUCKER AL report procured by the Pentagon and made available for public release. It has been reproduced in the best form available to the Pentagon. It is not spiral-bound, but rather assembled with Velobinding in a soft, white linen cover. The Storming Media report number is A625163. The abstract prov... more »ided by the Pentagon follows: This aviator heat stress study used a mixed between/within test subject design with one environmental condition (hot) and three rotary-wing MOPP4 ensembles (Special Operations Aviation Regiment SOAR), Air Warrior Concept 1, and Air Warrior Concept 3) encumbered with ballistic protection and over- water survival components. The SOAR ensemble was tested with (SC) and without (SX) microclimate cooling (MCC) consisting of a water-cooled undershirt with portable refrigerator/pump. Air Warrior Concept 1 and Concept 3 aviator MOPP4 ensembles were tested with (AC) and without (AX) MCC, respectively. Physiological and subjective data were obtained to compare thermoregulatory responses and quantitate the benefits of microclimate cooling. Test sessions consisted of a 20-minute treadmill walk in a heated (100 deg F and 20 percent relative humidity RH) environmental chamber to stimulate outdoor preflight activities, followed by three 2-hour sorties in a research UH-60 simulator with cockpit conditions set at 1000F and 50 percent RH (90 deg F wet-bulb globe temperature WBGT).« less