One-of-a-kind machine to treat airsickness

[Major Shaitan Singh]

Medical staff at 23 CF Health Services Detachment at 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, use a spin chamber to desensitize airsick aircrew when conventional therapy fails.

Airsickness can be a significant obstacle in the training of student pilots. To combat this, since 1981 the Canadian Armed Forces has offered an Air Motion Sickness Desensitization Program (AMSDP) for aircrew suffering from chronic airsickness.

The AMSDP’s spin chamber, a one-of-kind machine called the Levroy-Turntable, suppresses hypersensitivity to air sickness using repeated and controlled exposure to movement in order to encourage adaptation.

The spin chamber is a single-axis, bi-directional, lightproof, enclosed cabin. Its rotational speed can be adjusted from 4 to 20 revolutions per minute. Candidates sit inside the chamber in a CF-101 Voodoo fighter aircraft ejection seat and wear a noise-reducing headset to allow them to communicate with the controller.

The program is divided into three phases—relaxation therapy, desensitization treatments, and remedial flights—and lasts from four to six weeks. Desensitization is fairly successful for pilots with chronic airsickness and 77 per cent return to flying training. Between 60 and 70 per cent do so without evidence of airsickness affecting their training. The treatment is more successful on pilots than on other aircrew because pilots have longer periods in which to desensitize in their original environment.

Most pharmaceutical solutions for airsickness are prohibited to aircrew, and desensitization may be the most suitable measure to combat long-term management of persistent airsickness. The creation of the Levroy-Turntable for this precise purpose is a great example of the dedication Canadian Forces Health Services provides to Royal Canadian Air Force aircrew.

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