aviation awareness training

Airdocs High Altitude Lab

Airdocs in conjunction with Western Michigan College of Aviation has combined to bring state of the art aviation hypoxia awareness training to the Midwest.

Today’s general aviation and corporate aircraft are flying higher than ever before and operating in hypoxic environments where flight crews may have had little or no training. U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) statistics reveal 40 aircraft mishaps related to hypoxia between 1965 and 1990, accounting for 67 fatalities. More recently was the Payne Stewart accident in 1999 where the professional golfer died along with crew and passengers. Equally tragic was the Greek Helios Airlines accident in 2005 where 121 people lost their lives. In both accidents hypoxia was thought to be a major contributing factor.

Airdocs High Altitude Lab provides for the training of up to 6 students at a time in environments to 30,000 feet. The class starts with a didactic session on altitude physiology and then proceeds to the Lab where students are given the chance to experience their hypoxic signs and symptoms. During the session students perform cognitive and fine motor skills to demonstrate the difficulty of task performance in hypoxic conditions. Recovery is then done by oxygen mask to demonstrate the necessity of rapid response to hypoxic emergencies.


Training is located at Battle Creek Kellogg Airport (KBTL) at Western Michigan’s College of Aviation and can be scheduled through www.AIRDOCS.net or 989-245-4494. The training is focused, informative and fulfills IS-BAO requirement.

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