Basic Flight Physiology (By Richard O. Reinhart) - Essay Example

The topic of flight physiology is very important and worth-discussing, because of many flight accidents happening regularly. The book by Richard O. Reinhart tries to explain the significance of the flight operation and helps understand the reasons of flight accidents and find the ways of prevention.Basic Flight Physiology (By Richard O. Reinhart)1. Self-imposed medical stress represents the state generated by auto-suggestion. It is especially serious when connected with transport, especially with a plane.

People, whose life is connected with flights, often go through the state of psychological stress that is reflected on their physical health. My mother is afraid of planes and says that in the plane she has claustrophobia. Like the person described by Richard Reinhart, she drinks coffee and smokes cigarettes in order to improve her state. But this is a mistake. Coffee increases mental stress, therefore in order to prevent the stress before the flight it is necessary to have a nice sleep, rest and nice diet (Reinhart, 1996). 2. The decision making process is very essential because it is closely connected with proper flight risk evaluation.

Here I would like to analyze the situation that in which the pilot is to decide, if to make a very important flight in not corresponding weather. In order to avoid poor decision made in the state of stress or any other state, it is necessary to use risk-assessment model. The four elements of the suggested model will help to assess the situation and make right decision:1. First element is a pilot himself. His skills should be accessed.2. The second is a plane and its technical readiness for risky flights. 3. The third element is environment: the conditions of landing field, etc.4. The last element is operation.

The importance of the flight. All four elements should be accessed and combined to build the whole situation and make the proper decision. The application of an appropriate decision making model can help make a right decision in difficult situation. Poor decisions are the result of wrong situation assessment ((Reinhart, 1996).3. Payne Stewart flight resulted in a mishap first of all because of poor aircraft maintenance that is the second element of the suggested model. Cabin pressure problems were not solved properly and the maintenance was postponed.

This was done illegally and the pilots were not ready for the situation and did not wear oxygen masks on time (Reinhart, 1996).4. The accident with JFK Jr. flight happened because of two reasons. First, Kennedy was the only pilot in the aircraft and did not access his own skills properly before risky flight. This is a first element of our model. Secondly, the weather was not appropriate for a night flight. The weather was foggy and Kennedy listened to the report, but still decided to make a night flight.

It was a wrong decision made not in correspondence with the suggested model. Two elements of the model testified about the danger. According to the investigation, the accident happened because of pilot’s failure to maintain control in foggy weather. If the weather had not been foggy, it would have been easier to maintain control in bad weather conditions. And if the pilot were professional, foggy weather would not have been so dangerous for him. So, the accident happened because of wrong risk assessment made by the pilot (Reinhart, 1996).

Works CitedReinhart, Richard O. (1996). Basic Flight Physiology, McGraw-Hill Professional