![]() Until now, this G-training for UK military fast-jet pilots was undertaken at the QinetiQ centrifuge at Farnborough. The old centrifuge at Farnborough dates from 1955. This centrifuge, by rotating rapidly, is able to replicate the incredible G-forces found in flight. Because of the risk, before a pilot goes flying a front-line jet fighter, G-tolerance will be assessed and resistance techniques trained in a ground centrifuge. Additionally, pilots will use ‘anti-G-straining manoeuvres’ (AGSM) – a physiological effort to tense the lower abdomen to increase G-tolerance. ![]() Today modern fighters, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale, Lockheed Martin F-35 and others, can generate immense G-forces though their FBW flight controls – and this requires specialist equipment and clothing such as anti G-trousers and socks and pressure jerkins which mitigate the flow of blood away from the brain. For the RAF in particular, this was brought home recently by the death of a Red Arrows Hawk T1A pilot, Flt Lt Jon Egging, who died in 2011 in a crash that was attributed to the onset of G-LOC. Low-level high-G manoeuvring and jet fighter speeds were often a fatal combination for pilots who experienced G-LOC. ![]() In previous eras, the limitations of flight control systems and structural integrity of aircraft meant that the fighter itself was likely to disintegrate before the flesh and blood human passed out, and while anti-G equipment was trialled in WW2, it was only until the high-performance fly-by-wire (FBW) fighters, able to go beyond 9G, such as the F-16, that G-LOC (G loss of conscious) became a recognised killer of pilots. In positive G manoeuvres, blood is pulled from the pilot’s head and brain towards their legs and feet, with the result of impaired vision and thinking, ‘greying out’ and finally ‘black-out’ (or ‘red-out’ in negative G) where the pilot loses consciousness for several seconds. In small, transient doses, positive or negative ‘G’, for example on a rollercoaster or humpback bridge, can be an enjoyable thrill – however, the sustained pressure, which can be up to nine times the force of gravity, can be a form of physical torture equivalent to a hard workout. TIM ROBINSON looks at the future of High-G training in the UK.įor fighter pilots, a crucial part of their training is the ability to conquer the forces (or G) that is generated when aircraft perform aerobatics. Opened earlier this month, the Royal Air Force now has a state-of-the-art centrifuge able to push its aircrew to the very limits by replicating the extreme G forces that today’s fighters can generate.
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