K-State at Salina aeronautics students to experience chamber flight

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Source: Marlon Johnston, 785-826-2972, johnston@k-state.edu
Editor's Note: Orlando Carmona is a graduate of Hugoton High School; Dan Bergman is a graduate of Lansing High School; and Jason Mengoni is a graduate of Mulvane High School.
News release prepared by: Levi Wolters, 785-532-6415

Monday, October 24, 2005

K-STATE AT SALINA AERONAUTICS STUDENTS TO EXPERIENCE CHAMBER FLIGHT

MANHATTAN -- As part of their training to be pilots or aviation maintenance professionals, 30 Kansas State University at Salina students will have the opportunity to find out what it is like to be in an aircraft undergoing rapid decompression in flight.

The altitude chamber course, a continuing education elective to K-State's professional pilot and aviation maintenance degree programs, is offered through the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute at the Federal Aviation Administration Center in Oklahoma City.

The course, involving a flight simulation in a safe and controlled setting, takes students through several scenarios culminating in the opportunity to experience hypoxia symptoms at a simulated altitude of 25,000 feet above sea level. Hypoxia is a condition that results from a decrease in the oxygen supplied to the body. Its signs include feeling flushed, light headed, tingling and euphoria.

The students will experience and respond to a rapid decompression and then their personal hypoxia symptoms, as well as observe hypoxia in other students, according to Marlon Johnston, head of the aviation department at K-State at Salina.

Johnston said it is significant for aviation students to experience hypoxia to recognize the symptoms if they are ever encountered with them in real-life, in-flight situations.

"The point is to equip pilots with this experience and knowledge so they have a greater potential of recognizing and properly responding to the slow-leak situation," Johnston said.

As atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude, people are unable to breath in enough oxygen to survive, Johnston said. To compensate, aircrafts are equipped with pressurization systems that pump up the atmosphere inside of the aircraft to maintain it at a comfortable altitude of 3,000-5,000 feet.

There are multiple possibilities for failure of the pressurization systems, one of which is a slow-leak situation where the only warning may be symptoms of hypoxia experienced by passengers and pilots, Johnston said.

"Our program seeks to prevent catastrophic situations by providing our students with the altitude chamber experience," Johnston said. "This experience affirms our professional pilot graduates among the best prepared in the nation."

Students taking the course, which will be offered in November, are:

Chase Krien, sophomore in professional pilot, Bird City; Joseph Forsberg, sophomore in professional pilot, Burdick; Eric Frank, sophomore in professional pilot, Derby; Kirk Demuth, junior in professional pilot, Ford; Michael Middleton, sophomore in professional pilot, Goodland; Francisco Rodriguez, sophomore in professional pilot, Halstead; David Little, sophomore in professional pilot, and Matthew Werth, freshman in professional pilot, both of Hutchinson; Dan Bergman, freshman in professional pilot, and Daniel Kozak, sophomore in professional pilot, both of Lansing; Paul Ostmeyer, senior in professional pilot, Oakley; Dan Miller, sophomore in professional pilot, Pratt; Orlando Carmona, senior in professional pilot, and Jason Mengoni, sophomore in professional pilot, both of Salina; Braden Buer, senior in aviation maintenance, Scandia; Jacob Mitchem, sophomore in professional pilot, Sedgwick; Robert Pauley, freshman in technology, Smith Center; and Brandon Hempler, senior in professional pilot, Wamego.

From Wichita: Chris Bower, sophomore in professional pilot; Brandon Lundy, sophomore in professional pilot; Robin Mikols, sophomore in professional pilot; Brandon Rutherford, freshman in professional pilot; Rufus Wanjigi, junior in professional pilot; and Brian Weber, junior in professional pilot.

Darrin Smith, junior in professional pilot, Winfield.

From out-of-state: Niki Mondek, sophomore in professional pilot, Wonder Lake, Ill.; Clinton Augustin, junior in professional pilot, Osceola, Neb.; William Hull, sophomore in professional pilot, Edmond, Okla.; William Badnaruk, freshman in professional pilot, Elverson, Pa.; and Katherine Albury, sophomore in professional pilot, North Richland Hills, Texas.