is, the man is examined twice, once by our examiners and once by the company. That is, during a given period of time.

I think it might be well to point out that we examine for minimum physical qualifications. The company on the other hand may very well be examining only from the standpoint of longevity; how long will this man be useful to them. So they may exact a higher standard as a matter of company policy than we exact from a safety standpoint.

So that does give us a difference of opinion. It gives cause sometimes for the company to not hire a pilot when we have said that he is O.K.

Senator MONRONEY. Do you mean maybe not hire him or not advance him to some faster equipment?

Dr. STOVALL. That is more in company management with which I am not familiar.

Senator MONRONEY. You have the same examination for a DC-3 as you have for a DC-7?

Dr. STOVALL. Yes, sir.

Senator MONRONEY. If he is qualified to fly a DC-3 he is qualified under the examination to fly a DC-7?

Dr. STOVALL. Yes, sir.

Senator MONRONEY. Unless this new pattern is brought in before the 707 or the DC-8 is brought in, that will still be the standard of testing for the pilots in the jets; is that correct?

Dr. STOVALL. I would answer "Yes" to your question; unless there is a change we would use the class 1 standards as far as we now know. In other words, we have no additional information that would cause us to give him a more strict examination.

Senator MONRONEY. We are permitted to waive in all classes certain physical defects, depending on the man's degree of responsibility. So it is conceivable that for jet operation that we would not waive a man in any degree, and he would be required to follow or adhere strictly to the standards. I don't say that that would be the policy, but it could very well be.

Mr. PYLE. This is the very area, Mr. Chairman, that we have to look into, and quickly. In other words, this is part of the problem that our research is going to be directed toward, to finding the answer to this question. It is a very good question.

Senator MONRONEY. Senator Payne?

Senator PAYNE. I have nothing further.

Senator MONRONEY. Do you have anything further?

Mr. BAYNTON. I gather from your testimony, doctor, that you would not designate a company doctor today?

Dr. STOVALL. We prefer not to. You are speaking of a company doctor. You mean for the air carriers?

Mr. BAYNTON. That is right.

Dr. STOVALL. We prefer not to for the reason that it can conceivably place him in an embarrassing position. I think that may be more theoretical than real, but conceivably it could be an embarrassment if he had to take 2 positions, 1 for the Administrator and 1 for his employer. We do have in the instances, let us say, of a large clinic, in which we have designees, medical designees, in order to use the facilities of the clinic; and they also serve some of the major airlines. We have a very definite use for company physicians, if you wish to so

designate them, for instance, of Boeing and Lockheed, because these men are doing very great work in just the field we need to have developed. So we use them as our designees. But we try to let them always know if there is a decision, when it comes to deciding for the Administrator or their employer, that we expect the decision to be in favor of the Administrator's position.

Mr. PYLE. I think the point that you are trying to bring out is that, in the case of the air carriers, we do not follow this practice. But with test pilots and others, the designee system is used from time to time.

Is this not the distinction?

Dr. STOVALL. That is the distinction, except that there is no stated policy against designating a medical director of an airline. There used to be rather a firm policy against it, but it has not been stated for many, many years.

Senator MONRONEY. If the pilot objected to it, or the person being examined would ask for an independent test, he would have no trouble getting it; would he?

Dr. STOVALL. That is right. Under our practice of accepting medical evidence from whatever source that we consider reliable.

Senator MONRONEY. But if he is examined by

Dr. STOVALL. We reserve the right to accept it or reject it.

Senator MONRONEY. But if he is examined by a company doctor, then anything that they have in their files, of course, would be submitted to the

Dr. STOVALL. There is a strong objection to making available-I don't know whether that is so strong at the present time as it was at one time-but there was a very strong objection of letting the Administrator medical staff know what the company medical staff had. But we haven't had any difficulty in that area of any great moment in many years. We have a very close working relationship with the pilots and with the medical directors of the airlines. I am sure that there is material that they feel that we don't need. I don't know of any occasion in which we have specifically asked for a report on a pilot. We regard that much in the position that we like to have, we must have, the reports that come to the Administrator. We must regard it as confidential material. But, for the most part, our working relationship has been very good.

Senator MONRONEY. Senator Payne?

Senator PAYNE. No questions.

Senator MONRONEY. Thank you very much, Dr. Stovall, and thank you, Mr. Pyle. We appreciate it. We may, before we finish, like to call you back. You may feel free to go downtown about your work, if Dr. Stovall could remain here.

(The newspaper article referred to above follows:)

[The New York Times, Sunday, March 31, 1957]

MAN: BARRIER IN FLIGHT

A VIEW OF AVIATION MEDICINE'S RESEARCH INTO THE PROBLEMS OF SPEED AND

ALTITUDE

(By Howard A. Rusk, M. D.)

On successive days recently, Navy jet aircraft established transcontinental speed records from east to west, west to east, and on round-trip flights. The

west-to-east record was made by a twin-jet Sky Warrior (A-3RD) that flew from Los Angeles to Miami in 3 hours 39 minutes and 24 seconds at an average speed of more than 641 miles an hour. The flight broke the record set 2 years ago by an Air Force F-84F Thunderstreak by 8 minutes.

These new achievements in speed have highlighted once again the importance of research into the human elements in flight. Man's ability to tolerate the unnatural environment of flight is the primary limiting factor in aircraft speed, altitude, and maneuverability. These are also the factors that mean victory or defeat in war.

Medical science has been interested in the physiological and safety aspects of flying since man's first flight. An American physician, Dr. John Jeffries, was copilot of the first balloon flight across the English Channel in 1795.

The most recent dramatic episode of medical aviation research was the test of speed, blast, and crash made by an Air Force physician, Lt. Col. John P. Stapp, by riding a rocket-propelled sled 632 miles an hour and stopping in 1 second plus. Maj. Gen. Dan C. Ogle, Air Force Surgeon General, points out that having operationally surpassed the speed of sound in our present-day aircraft, the next mythical barrier is that of heat. At low altitudes, speeds of 600 miles an hour may develop air-friction heat that will raise cockpit temperature 86° F. above that of the outside air. At speeds already foreseen, increases of 400° to 500° F. will be produced even in the rarified atmosphere at 100,000 feet.

Another real problem is latency of vision. A flier traveling at a speed of 1,800 miles an hour would cover a distance of almost a mile from the time of first appearance of an object to the time he was able to effect a control movement of his aircraft.

MESSAGE SLOWER THAN SPEED

If he flew into a cloud 100 yards deep he would actually have emerged from the far side before the message from the retina of the eye could register on the perception center in the brain, making him aware he had entered a cloud.

Researchers already know a great deal about what happens to the human body at high altitudes unless it is protected. Flying up to 8,000 feet at a moderate rate of climb presents no particular problem. The only sensation usually is a ping in the ears. Unless acclimatized to such altitudes, as are the Indians of Peru, most pilots will lose consciousness at 18,000 feet without oxygen.

Even with tight-fitting oxygen masks, communication becomes a problem at more than 30,000 feet. As the flier must breathe oxygen under pressure, the natural breathing process is reversed, and the flier must make a positive effort to exhale. The Navy has recently learned through research that if the flier's own earphones are arranged to provide a short delay before he hears his own words, he will speak more distinctly.

At 63,000 feet an unprotected flier's blood would boil as the air pressure (57 millimeters of mercury) equals the vapor pressure of water at body temperature. From 80,000 feet up, man can fly only in a sealed cabin with its own built-in climate and air supply. Oxygen in the outside air becomes poisonous as ionizing rays turn some of it into ozone with 3 atoms to the molecule rather than 2.

The world's record for manned flight, it is understood, was set at 126,000 feet last summer in the Bell X-2 research rocket plane piloted by Capt. Ivan C. Kincheloe. In a later flight in which it crashed, the Bell X-2, it is understood, established a new speed record of 2,100 miles an hour. A new research plane now under construction, the X-15, is expected to reach speeds of more than 3,000 miles an hour and altitudes of 50 miles-264,000.

SIMULATED ALTITUDE TEST

Last December, at the Wright Development Center, Dayton, Ohio, Air Force Maj. Arnold I. Beck achieved a simulated altitude of 197,770 feet (38 miles) in a 50 cubic foot steel pressure chamber. Major Beck reported complete comfort in his pressure suit.

This last week the Soviet Union released photographs of a dog named Malyshka (Little One) that the Russians said had flown in space. It could not be determined if Malyshka is 1 of the 2 dogs that Prof. Alexi Pokrovkey, of the Soviet Experimental Institute of Medicine, reported in 1955 had traveled 68 miles up in a rocket. In experiments at White Sands, N. Mex., the United States Air Force sent 5 monkeys and 3 mice 80 miles aloft in pressurized rocket heads with no apparent ill effects.

As would be expected, the great bulk of research in aviation medicine is conducted by the Air Force and Navy directly or through contracts to universities and other research institutions. A significant development in such research was the announcement last month of the establishment of the Harvard-Guggenheim center for aviation health and safety at Harvard University's School of Public Health. The new research-teaching center will begin operations next fall under the direction of Dr. Ross A. McFarland.

Our Nation can make no more important investment. It not only saves lives and dollars, but may be the decisive factor in deterring aggression or in victory in the event of war.

Senator MONRONEY. I would like to ask Brig. Gen. Victor Byrnes to come forward.

General, we welcome you to our committee. You have done great work for the Surgeon General on air development and research on the medical side. We would be very happy to have you give to the committee the benefit of any information that you might have.

STATEMENT OF BRIG. GEN. VICTOR A. BYRNES (MC), USAF, DIRECTOR, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES, OFFICE OF SURGEON GENERAL, USAF

General BYRNES. Thank you very much. If I understand the courtesy under which I was accorded the privilege of testifying, it is to the effect that I would talk about aviation medicine and its principles without making a statement either for or against the merits of the bill.

Senator MONRONEY. Yes. That we would like. That was one of the main reasons we wish you to be here, to give us some of the background of the problem, and what the military has found as they have entered this difficult field.

General BYRNES. The matter under discussion is related to both the research and the administration of a physical qualification certifying program. It is essential to have the research to establish the standards that you require for the type of operation you are going to have, and then it is essential that you have a satisfactory administrative means for carrying out certification of flying personnel.

When you certify that an individual is physically qualified for flying, you are essentially stating three things: First, that the man has the necessary characteristics to utilize the aircraft in a safe manner, and, of course, in the military we have the additional certification that this man has the characteristics which will allow him to effectively utilize this aircraft for a military mission. This is not true in civil aviation, of course.

Senator MONRONEY. You mean that he has the courage to go through to an objective?

General BYRNES. Not only the courage, but that he has the physical characteristics, vision, for example, which permit him to utilize his aircraft effectively against enemy aircraft. This is a higher type visual requirement than you have just to take off the aircraft, to fly it somewhere and land it again. But the standards must be realistic for the flying task that is to be performed.

And there is one third thing that you are certifying when you put your name on such a piece of paper, and that is, so far as you can tell, this man will remain physically qualified until his next required physical examination. So you have to know of his capabilities and his physical condition.

It is preferable, of course, to have this verified by day-to-day observation by flight surgeons, but this is not always possible in some of the other fields of aviation activity.

Our experience has indicated the following things: First, that the examiner must be especially trained in aviation medicine. The field is such that medical training as given in medical schools and in the usual clinical practice of medicine does not adequately qualify a physician to pass on questionable cases.

Second, that any examination program must be carefully supervised. Senator MONRONEY. Could you elaborate on that, that it must be properly supervised? Do you mean that, even though the examiner is qualified by additional service and experience in aviation medicine, his examination must be the result of consultation with some others?

General BYRNES. That wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but that the quality of his examinations must be rechecked from time to time in the Air Force by some individual from our headquarters. Individuals, by and large, are conscientious, careful, and so on, but they do a better job if they know that somebody else is watching.

The third point, that adequate equipment must be available, and adequate facilities, and that the individual doing the examination must have adequate time in which to accomplish it. This means that the press of other business cannot be so great that the crying child gets the lion's share of the time, and the examination is not adequately performed.

Then that the decision as to qualification must be made by the medical people, and that their decision must be the final one. This is true in the Air Force, and I think it is also true in the Navy, although I cannot speak for that branch. Legally the responsibility for making these decisions in the Air Force rests with the Chief of Staff. And he can reverse any decision we make if he wants to. The area has been delegated to the Surgeon General, with the authority to make these determinations, and, so far as I am aware, it has never been reversed by the Chief of Staff.

I think this is essential. There is no way that you can adequately educate a group of people who are not physicians and who are not in aviation medicine by appearing before them and giving them an adequate background upon which to make a medical decision. I think this one is more or less equivalent to putting a doctor on the bench and expecting him to make proper legal decisions on the basis of evidence presented to him. I believe this is true.

Perhaps with that statement of what I believe are the basic tenets in this problem, maybe someone would like to question me.

Senator MONRONEY. We would like to know all we can about some of the problems that the Air Force feels it faces in connection with the development of supersonic speed, vertical climbs, all the things that you have to do particularly in the long hours of one crew circling the world as they did in B-52's.

Do you find additional strains that have been placed on the human body that reach beyond the point of the average man's capacity to endure it?

General BYRNES. Yes, sir. We face, of course, problems that civil aviation will not face in the foreseeable future. And if I may digress for just a second from your question, the point has been brought out that perhaps the military laboratories could take over the re