AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2011 - 36

PILOT BRIEFING

Embry-Riddle offers hypoxia training
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, has opened a normobaric “altitude chamber” that’s open to the public. The High Altitude Lab doesn’t reduce air pressure like a hypobaric version does. Instead, it simply removes oxygen from the air to simulate the lack of oxygen at altitude. Participants will feel the effects of hypoxia and see its effects on others. Since the lab does not reduce pressure, participants do not experience trapped gases or decompression sickness (“the bends”) as with traditional altitude chambers. Of course, the downside to this method is the inability to simulate a rapid decompression that could occur in pressurized airplanes. This course offers an excellent opportunity to experience hypoxia symptoms in a safe, controlled environment employing airline-style oxygen masks for recovery. However, it does not satisfy the FAR 61.31(g) high-altitude signoff, which requires tasks in a flight simulator or flight-training device. While air machines extract oxygen from the lab enclosure, students are given cognitive, motor, and flightrelated tasks to perform while noting the onset of hypoxic symptoms. There is also a Frasca flight simulator in the lab that replicates a Cessna 172 with a Garmin G1000 cockpit. Besides the lab

portion, the four-hour course provides instruction in flight physiology similar to the military programs. ERAU says it is coordinating with the local flight standards district office to allow pilots to receive credit toward the FAA’s Wings program. Cost of the program is $375 per student, and the lab can seat up to eight. Candidates must be 18 years or older and hold an FAA medical

Tangier Island doctor’s legacy lives on
Dr. David B. Nichols discovered his mission early in life. As a young medical student in Canada, Nichols visited his parents who had moved to Virginia and toured Tangier Island, located 10 miles off the state’s coastline in the Chesapeake Bay. While there, Nichols learned that the remote island had no reliable medical care. From that moment, he decided to earn a medical degree so that he could provide care to people who lived on the island. He completed his residency in Virginia and earned his pilot certificate so that he could fly to the island to provide care. For more than three decades, he faithfully flew a Cessna Skylane or Robinson R44 to the island nearly every Thursday. AOPA turned to him for assistance in its General Aviation Serves America campaign, and he helped film a commercial about the important role small airports play in helping him provide medical care on the island. He was the focus of an article and accompanying video in the September 2009 issue of AOPA Pilot. Nichols, 62, died in his Virginia home December 30 after a battle with cancer. Last June, Nichols was featured on National Public Radio. Soon after the feature aired, the unexpected news of his terminal illness was announced. Then, the well-deserved recognition came pouring in. He was highlighted on NBC Nightly News “Making a Difference” and recognized by local, state, and national dignitaries and aviation associations during the
AOPA PILOT •

clinic’s opening ceremony. He also was honored with the first “Country Doctor of the Decade” award. AOPA presented Nichols with a Presidential Citation for the use of general aviation in his humanitarian efforts. Nichols had a plan for a state-of-the-art medical clinic to be built on the island—the rundown 50-year-old clinic he had been practicing in for 30 years just wouldn’t do any longer, he decided. For five years, Nichols, his friend Jimmie Carter, and the Tangier Island Health Foundation worked to raise $1.7 million to build a clinic. The David B. Nichols Health Center opened in August, just a few months after Nichols was diagnosed with the terminal disease. “Dr. Nichols’ generosity, selflessness, and dedication to the people of Tangier Island were nothing short of extraordinary,” said AOPA President Craig Fuller. “He used his skills as both a physician and a pilot to their highest purpose, and his life will continue to be an inspiration to all of us in the aviation community.” Nichols, who knew his time with the island residents was running short, reassured the Tangier community of his love and dedication during a bittersweet speech August 29 at the clinic’s grand opening. “While I will leave you in body, I will never leave you in spirit,” he said in his closing remarks. “I will keep an eye on you.” —Alyssa J. Miller

36 • FEBRUARY 2011

AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2011

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