Effect of age and flying experience on heart rate response of fighter aircrew during high-G exposure in the high-performance human centrifuge

Objectives: Institute of Aerospace Medicine Indian Air Force regularly conducts high-G training in the human rated high-performance human centrifuge (HPHC) for fighter aircrew. It was hypothesized that the cardiovascular response of young and inexperienced pilots who undergo training in the HPHC may be different from the elder and experienced pilots as age and flying experience may have some effect on the CVS response to high-G exposure. Material and Methods: A retrospective analysis of the heart rate data from the data bank of the department of acceleration physiology and spatial orientation was done to understand differences in heart rate response between young and older fighter aircrew. Results: A total of 624 successful HPHC runs were evaluated for the baseline heart rate (before high-G exposure), peak heart rate (PHR) (during the exposure), and heart rate after the exposure of the run. The mean age, height, and weight of the subjects were 27.62 ± 5.5 years, 175.31 ± 4.8 cm, and 72.81 ± 8.4 kg, respectively. Student’s t-test revealed that there was a significant difference in the basal heart rate and PHR during the high-G exposure between young, inexperienced, and older experienced pilots. Higher basal heart rate and PHR during high-G exposure among younger pilots could be explained by anxiety due to inexperience and a tendency to pull harder in comparison to other pilots who with experience tend to be more adjusted and pull slower to meet the desired G-level during the high-G training. Conclusion: The cardiovascular response during exposure to a high-G environment is significantly different between young, inexperienced pilots, and other senior pilots.