More Information on AsMA Corporate Sponsors

In this President’s Page, I shall inform our members and interested parties about several of the Aerospace Medical Association’s other corporate sponsors. As we reminded you in the last update, you can visit many of our sponsors at the Exhibits during our annual meeting.

PharmaFlight ZRT: According to the website, PharmaFlight “… accompany the players of the aviation industry from selection through training to retirement.” The program was started by Gyula Gyori and functioned as a scientific center.

The institution was founded in 2012. Its facility was built in Debrecen, Hungary, in 2015. It provides university-level pilot training along with research and development. The company collaborates with the University of Debrecen. They offer a 3.5-year professional pilot B.Sc. program and a 1.5-year helicopter pilot training program. The students can obtain an ATPL and type ratings in an Airbus or Boeing simulator.

The center also conducts joint drug research with the University of Debrecen to promote the development of medicinal products that flight crews can use safely. PharmaFlight also has equipment that can assess the fitness of workers throughout the entire transport system. The facility also offers medical and professional rehabilitation services when needed. A breakdown of the capabilities that the facility provides includes a flying academy, a simulator center, an aeromedical center that provides medical examinations and certification for flight crews, and a physiological science center.

Franklin Scientific LLC: Their mission statement reads: “Franklin Scientific LLC provides superior Contractor Logistics Support services on each customer’s unique set of needs. Our professional, technical lines are well maintained to maximize availability.” They have contracts with the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force that provide maintenance support for 14 altitude training chambers across the United States. Their employees design, manufacture, operate, and provide maintenance support for various systems, including human centrifuges, spatial disorientation trainers, hypobaric chambers, hyperbaric chambers, ejection seat trainers, night vision trainers, and briefing and debriefing systems.

Franklin Scientific can perform all services on physiological training equipment. They can install or dismantle, transport, assemble, and manage all services, including transportation, mechanical, electrical, and rigging. The company can also assist in performing start-up and testing to get the equipment back to functioning order.

MD Onboard: These individuals provide crews in commercial or business aviation with advice on in-flight medical events, in-flight medical emergency response training, and preflight passenger clearance. To achieve these goals, they provide consultative medical services tailored to the aviation industry.

MD Onboard can evaluate an airline’s training program and equipment to ensure they meet regulatory requirements. Then, they ensure that the equipment functions seamlessly with their telemedical services.

The group can also provide the airline with assessments of hotels in the countries they connect to. This enables managers to understand the risks to their flight crews. They even have a mobile app that allows the airline to reach out to a crew on a layover about a crisis so the crew can check in and confirm their condition.

Harvey Watt & Co.: Any member of AsMA should be familiar with Harvey Watt & Co. If I recall the history correctly, Harvey Watt was an airline pilot who started his own company, flying around in his airplane and selling insurance to pilots. This ultimately led to the establishment of the company. They have been in existence since 1951.

Harvey Watt & Co. provides life and pilot disability insurance to airlines and individual pilots for loss of medical license. Once the pilot has a medical condition that may require a special issuance (waiver), they have physicians and nurses who will assist the pilot in providing the proper evaluations and testing to present their case to the FAA (or another nation’s certifying authority) to get the pilot back in the air. If the pilot is grounded or denied, then they provide disability insurance until they can return to the cockpit. Their agents will walk the pilot through the recertification process. Their staff is also available for phone consultations to assist pilots with medical questions.

Harvey Watt is one of AsMA’s more visible corporate sponsors. You will often see Sean Daigre and Robin Alston at our meetings. They sponsor the President’s reception each year.

Martin Baker Aircraft Co.: This privately owned company has been the leader in the design and manufacture of crashworthy ejection seats for at least 90 years. They currently have over 16,500 seats in service, are in 72 different aircraft types, their products are in 81 countries, and they provide 54% of the global market share.

The maintainers service their seats worldwide. They can say that because of the seats and the maintainers servicing them, they have saved over 7,715 lives. Martin Baker has a “historic product policy”. This defines that any ejection seat that is not in its original military role for which it was designed is considered a historic product, meaning that all activities to maintain that product in service become unsupported.

The company not only provides training in the use of their seats but also covers associated systems, including parachutes, personal survival gear, and seat survival kits.

Among much recognition, Martin Baker Aircraft Co. was presented with the National Aviation Hall of Fame 2019 Spirit of Flight Award.

Inomedic Health Applications (IHA): IHA offers quite a menu of health, safety, and environmental capabilities. The company is woman-owned and its President is one of our long-time AsMA members—Leroy P. Gross, M.D., MPH. Dr. Gross is an Aerospace Medicine specialist who was a USAF Pilot/Physician. He is a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine and a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association.

The company is located in Hampton, VA. They provide services in medical, environmental, and environmental health fields. The list of tasks they can perform is quite extensive. Here are just some of the services: occupational health program assessments, aerospace medicine consultation, nurse case management, medical education and training, regulatory compliance consulting, environmental assessments, post-emergency cleanup, air quality monitoring, geographical information systems, industrial hygiene-risk assessment, OSHA compliance assessments, hazardous chemical sampling, ionizing and non ionizing radiation surveys, food safety inspections, and epidemiological studies. Please see their website for the complete list.

Websites

FranklinScientificLLC: https://www.franklinscientificllc.com/

Harvey Watt & Co: http://harveywatt.com/

Inomedic Health Applications: http://www.ihamedical.com/

Martin-Baker Aircraft Company: http://martin-baker.com/contact/martin-baker-uk/

MD Onboard LLC: https://mdonboard.com/

PharmaFlight: http://www.pharmaflight.hu/