EAST MEETS WEST - A COMPARISON OF EASTERN BLOCK WESTERN AEROMEDICAL PRACTICES/

Under the auspices of the European Command (EUCOM) Military-to-Militar y Exchange Program, the authors participated in 13 trips to visit aero medical facilities of nine Eastern European nations (Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Sl ovakia). In addition, eight of these Eastern European nations visited United States Air Force (USAF) aeromedical facilities. This article hi ghlights the similarities and differences noted between the USAF and E astern Europe in the practice of aerospace medicine. Flight surgeons f rom both Eastern Europe and the USAF address issues such as physiologi c stresses of flight (acceleration, hypoxia, etc.) and lifestyle stres ses (rest, diet, alcohol, cigarettes, etc.). Eastern European Flight S urgeons do not regularly fly. The Eastern European approach to medical standards and screening for aviation applicants is much stricter and more comprehensive than ours. Several of the nations visited had activ e research programs at their central aeromedical institute emphasizing aircrew selection and retention standards. With the exception of the Czech Republic, Eastern European nations did not routinely grant waive rs for chronic medical conditions such as hypertension in aircrew. Sov iet-built aircraft had many unique features such as an outside-in atti tude indicator and an auto-recovery system.