The Naked Pilot; Case Study

David Barnes, an engineering test pilot waited for clearance as he sat in the cockpit of a prototype of F-20 Tigershark. He was rehearsing for a flight, which would later prove how powerful this fighter jet was. He had performed this exact set of maneuvers, 60 times and was really excited to do it again. Just as he completed the mental rehearsal of the flight, he got cleared for takeoff and he started to accelerate the jet down the runway. Barnes was wearing a specially designed suit, which would tighten the pressure towards his legs to combat the dangerous effects of the artificial gravity created in these types of fighter jets. As he performed the maneuver, blood flowed towards the lower half of his body and his vision blurred out as the retina has the highest histolic blood pressure requirement in the body. His vision returned to normal in a moment as he got ready for the last high G maneuver. As he performed the maneuver, the force hit him hard and his vision blurred out again. His suit was not enough for the force that he experienced. Barnes, at that moment was semi-unconscious and could not remember the landing maneuvers properly. Tigershark descended rapidly and suddenly dived onto a hill killing Barnes instantly.

The main cause of this accident was the lack of the suits functionality to handle any extreme situations . Had the suit provided enough pressure to force the blood into the upper half of his body, this accident could have been avoided. The second cause of the accident was the lack of practice on behalf of the pilot. The pilot was not trained to handle such extreme situations when he was suffering from fatigue.

The system could be improved by redesigning the suits as to make it capable of providing as much pressure as a human being requires in such circumstances. Also, the pilot could be trained to handle extreme situations like these.

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