HEART-RATE AND RHYTHM IN CIVIL PILOTS DUR ING AEROBIC MANEUVERS - A HOLTER ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC STUDY

Variations in heart rate and arrhythmic risk were analysed during aero batic manoeuvres carried out by 23 amateur pilots, affiliated to an ai r club or in the French national team, during training or competitive flight, by 43 Holter 2-channel continuous electrocardiographic recordi ngs. The maximum, mean and minimum heart rates were raised before the flight started and were observed to attain or even exceed the age-pred icted maximum heart mte during the manoeuvres. These values were indep endant of age, the pilot's experience, the acceleration forces, the du ration of the flight or the aerobatic figures performed. On the other hand, the heart rate was much higher during competition than during tr aining and pilot experience modified its variations, indicating that p sychological stress played a major role in inducing the tachycardia. A erobatic flying was only mildly arrhythmogenic, inducing some isolated extrasystoles and one short run of asymptomatic supraventricular tach ycardia. Holter recording is a simple and economic method of monitorin g aerobatic pilots and could help to improve training methods and our understanding of the physiological changes observed during flight.