European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 24, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes saturday september 24, 1977 for Good reason fewer pilots smoke fifth in a 10-Day series of stories by staff writer Bob Hoyer aviation and smoking for some people it is hard to think of one without thinking of the other. Don t All pilots smoke the answer is an unequivocal no. And there appears to be Good reason Why Many of the professionals involved in this demanding business have Given up smoking. Both air Force pilots and doctors say that the aviators flying today s High performance aircraft take a dimmer View of smoking than their counterparts of the past. But the image of the Gung to aviator Pul fing on a cigarette Dies hard. It is grounded in a history which recorded the air plane and the cigarette coming of age together. From the beginning Many of the dash ing figures who pioneered flight grew up smoking or were associated in the Public mind with smoking. It was simply part of the image real or imagined that went along with the barnstorming Era of Avia Tion. In the military pilots smoked to relieve tension or smoked because Many of their colleagues smoked. Yet there is reason to believe that More than one Accident was brought about by smoking although it has always been difficult to precisely identify the causes of aviation disasters. Fire Hazard aerospace Medicine an air Force medical publication states that the fire Hazard of cigarette smoking in pressurized cockpits in the presence of relatively High concentrations of oxygen has been a Factor in several aircraft Accident fatalities and major  while smoking is prohibited in the cock pits of fighter aircraft some air Force pilots occasionally sneak a puff on a cigarette several pilots admitted privately. The Crews of cargo and transport air Craft Are permitted to smoke at the discretion of aircraft commanders and most commanders do permit smoking. Aside from the safety aspects of smok ing and flying heavy smoking limits the tolerance of air Crew members to High Alti tude. This is attributed to the increased Levels of Carbon monoxide in the bodies of . Charles r. Queen chief of aeromedical services at Rhein main a Germany says smoking could be As dangerous As drinking before flying because the in creased Levels of Carbon monoxide it Cre ates reduce the ability of red blood cells to deliver oxygen throughout the body. Col. Alfred k. Cheng a flight surgeon and commander of the air Force Hospital at Hahn a Germany Points out that Pilot smoking three cigarettes before flight could lose As much As 3,000 feet in Altitude . James l. Wilson a physiologist at the air Force Altitude chamber in Wiesbaden Germany says pilots Are checked every three years for Altitude tolerance. The heavy smoker experiences what is known As hype Mic hypoxia which Lowers Altitude tolerance Wilson pointed out. The body partially compensates for this by building up extra red blood cells but this process takes two to three weeks. The smoker who increases smoking before flight will experience an additional loss of Altitude  nicotine a problem nicotine in the cigarette causes yet an other problem. It is a stimulant and a such makes the body use 15 to 25 per cent More oxygen. You Combine this with the High Carbon monoxide level that reduces the ability of red cells to deliver oxygen and you see How troublesome smoking could be. The big problem with Carbon monoxide is the time Factor. It takes three hours to get rid of half the Carbon monoxide in the blood then it takes an additional three hours to get rid of half the remain Der and so on Wilson said. During their Altitude chamber tests pilots Are briefed on the potentially harm Ful effects of smoking drinking and other health abuses. It. Col. Darrell Koerner assistant operations officer for the 774th tactical Airlift Squadron a c130 cargo outfit on rotational duty at Rhein main says More emphasis is being placed on the hazards of smoking than in the past. But while doctors and scientists warn of the effects of smoking on flying Many pilots continue to smoke and some insist that their Altitude tolerance is As Good As those who Don t smoke. Maj. Johnny Hanes a navigator with the 774th and a cigarette smoker of 16 years claims he suffered less in the Altitude chamber when he took the mask off at a simulated 25,000 feet than the nonsmokers in his group. A smoker with the 313th tactical fighter Squadron an f4 phantom outfit at Hahn says his tolerance was average when he went through the test with a group of nonsmokers. An 18-year Veteran with the 313th, self described As a mild Cigar smoker says he doubts that smokers will be bothered by Altitude because of the pressurization of modern aircraft. He was among a group of nine pilots randomly interviewed in the 313th ready flight Crews undergo testing in Altitude chamber. Is photo by red Grandy room. Only one other member of the group smoked. Three of the seven nonsmokers were former  quit not so much because of discomfort in the cockpit but because i was run Ning Short of breath when i played softball one Pilot  Are plentiful in the 313th ready room but the Squadron is known As a non smoking . Col. Richard bugs Bugeda com Mander of the 313th, says that no More than a third of the Squadron pilots smoke and he describes some of the smokers As Light smokers. Bugeda quit cigarettes in 1970 after a tour in Vietnam because he Felt they were potentially injurious to his health and be cause he knew he would be More competitive in sports As a nonsmoker. Capt. Jess Chalk a Pilot with the 313th,is one of the Squadron s strongest non smoking advocates. He gave up smoking 19 months ago and says he feels consider ably better for having done  s a direct link Between fitness and my impression of myself Chalk said. I can t stay fit and smoke. I just Don t have the desire to stay fit when i m smok ing. I was doing a pack of cigarettes a Day and i knew they were not Good for me. I feel the improved effects of physical fit Ness More in the cockpit than the direct bad effects of  it. Col. Manfred r. Nelson chief of the clinical Medicine division Safe s sur Geon s office Ramstein Germany is con Vinced that fewer pilots Are smoking today than in world War ii because of a change in attitudes. Flying is business flying today is More of a business. Pilots must be very serious. This is largely due to the sophisticated aircraft we re flying. We now have aircraft that test the limits of endurance Nelson said. For a number of years now there be been no cigarette machines in the preflight area. It just seems that a lot fewer pilots Are smoking now than a few years  while he cannot speak for the air Force Bugeda says that 50 per cent of the older fighter pilots he knows have Given up smoking. They re a different crowd than they used to be he said. Koerner is convinced that the Airlift Crews he flies with today smoke less than those he flew with 10 years ago. . Michael Kinda physiological training specialist at the Wiesbaden Alti tude chamber sees less smoking among contemporary air Crews than he did 12 years ago when he joined the air Force. A1973 study of 1,000 male air Crew Mem Bers and passengers at Wright Patterson fab Ohio revealed that officers smoke less cigarettes than the National average while enlisted men smoke More than the National average. Aviation physiologist maj. Richard b. Pilmer who conducted the test says results May be correlated to educational Levels economic factors and knowledge about smoking. Less smoking today if there is less smoking today Queen has a Way of explaining the change. The Pilot of today is More conscious of his health and the demands on his body Are greater in the Type of aircraft now being flown he said. A world War ii fighter Pilot turned doctor Queen has seen the ravages brought about by excessive smoking. Al though he used to yank aside the oxygen mask and sneak a puff in the cockpit he gave up smoking 13 years ago largely due to his medical background. I can understand Why people smoke and i know it is Tough to break the habit but when you see As i have what can happen to the heavy smoker you have to weigh the  maj. Bruce Jensen flight surgeon with the 313th, says that the things in smoking that Are hazardous to everyone else s health compound the problem for the flyer with toxic elements added to his  pilots who develop pulmonary complications As the result of heavy smoking Are sometimes grounded and May end up shortening their flying careers. Trouble often shows up during flight physicals. These include pulmonary functions tests which measure the elasticity of the lung. If the individual has a lot of scars on the lung this will show up in the test Cheng said. Borderline cases Are sent to Brooks fab at the school or aerospace Medicine in san  discussed by earlier generations of pilots the awareness of smoking and its implications on health has raised the Issue of smoking even among air Crews where there is no obvious tension Between smokers and nonsmokers. It. Col. Lowell Fathera operations offi cer for the 774th, says he has heard the subject discussed frequently since the sur Geon general s report identified the Haz Ards of smoking in 1964. A nonsmoker Fathera is not bothered by others smoking in the c130 cockpit be cause the air is changed every five min  Koerner also a nonsmoker holds a similar View. But other nonsmoking pilots Are not always As tolerant about smoking in the cockpit. . Donald t. Rogers an Engineer with the 774th, has known aircraft com Manders who object to smoking in the cockpit but by talking to flight schedulers he has always managed to Fly with pilots who permit smoking. Strong advocate capt. Daucey Brewington a c130 Pilot now serving As an operations officer at the Rhein main Airlift coordinating Center is a Strong advocate of no smoking aboard aircraft. When i m the aircraft commander there is no smoking except on a Long flight and then Only one smoker at a time he said. Smoking fouls the air and stinks the clothing and i think it could add to the problem of vertigo dizziness. Smokers Are More susceptible to vertigo and vertigo is a serious problem in aviation. Expressing views similar to those of Brewington were four Young officers from a c141 Crew of the 18th military Airlift command Squadron. All four turned out to be nonsmokers. Two had Strong feelings on the subject. I wish they would bar smoking in the cockpits said 1st it. Mark e. Sheprow. Smoking is an irritation to  i Don t really like smoking in the cock pit said aircraft commander capt. W. C. Roberson. But when you re flying 10 hours the smoker has to  tomorrow a look at one of the world s great industries the growing and marketing of tobacco smoking is allowed on medevac flights smoking is permitted for both patients and passengers aboard air Force medical evacuation flights. But because patients receive priority seating assignments according to diagnosis rather than smoking preference an official says it is impractical to Divide the aircraft into smoking and nonsmoking sections. It s really no problem reports it. Col. Ellen Kernan chief nurse of the 2nd air medical evacuation so Anrhein main Germany. There s a Complete air change in the Cabin Ever three minutes and we can always change seats if smoking  Kernan said a no smoking policy has not been put into effect because some flights run up to 12 hours a Long Tim for a smoker to go without a cigarette. Separate smoking and nonsmoking areas Are designated on All regularly scheduled military Airlift command flights