POSTURAL CONTROL IN PILOTS AND CANDIDATES FOR FLIGHT TRAINING

Postoral control may reflect the pilot's ability to deal successfully with the stresses of spatial orientation. In this study, we hypothesiz ed that fighter pilots would have better performance on the ''tetra-ax iametric posture test'' than would helicopter pilots (less rigorously selected) and candidates for flight training. We rested 28 fighter pil ots, 23 helicopter pilots and 43 candidates by tetra-axiametric postur ography. Fighter pilots were found on the level position to have signi ficantly more compensatory anterior-posterior sway (moving anterior-po sterior rather than laterally, p = 0.02) and required less movements t o maintain balance (p = 0.02) than did candidates. Helicopter pilots h ad intermediate values. In stressed positions, fighter pilots demonstr ated relatively more slow movements (p = 0.018) than did the candidate s, which may be related to increased labyrinth control. In the stresse d positions, helicopter pilots had postural profiles similar to the ca ndidates. We conclude that there are significant differences in postur al control as tested by tetra-axiametric posturography between fighter pilots, helicopter pilots, and candidates for flight training. This c ould be due to either innate ability, which could be used in the selec tion process, or to training. A prospective study is planned in order to determine if posturography can predict a candidate's ability to com plete flight training.