Archive case record

CIA-UAP-012, Combating Fatigue In Crewmembers

Date of account: 1976
Source: uap_archive
Record updated: 2026-10-10

Record summary

This November 1976 CIA Foreign Intelligence Information Report summarizes Soviet Aeroflot's involvement in aerospace medical research, including their methods for combating crew fatigue through physical conditioning, automated biological testing equipment that measures vital signs in 1-3 minutes, and discussions about UFO phenomena with a Soviet radiation biologist. A more redacted version of this report has been available on CIA's public website.

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

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_ Approved for Domestic CoJkcrion Division Foreign I nrdlig.cnn: I nformario,1 Rc.:pon 01•£CTOIAlf Of OP(u.IIONS COUNTRY USSR OC0 REPOU NO. 00- B-32 1 /33474-76 SU6J£CT Combating Fa tigue in Crewmembers/ Aeroflot Work Cyc les/Use of Drugs/ Bi ologi ca l Eff ects of Ai r c rnfc Noise/ DATE OIS!ll . NO. PAGES lo November l.976 4 f { DA TE Of ! I J l 1 i I SOURCE Radi a t 1•on Researc h/UFO Phenomena, 1 Prototype Pilot Biological Psychomotor REFERENC ES Nl~~=~:•~ i !i~:,~::::t•tial Navigation 1 .. ·- · .. .. I___ THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION -·-------- ·----· -·-··----· ·----·- 8 SUMMARY: Aeroflot of-ficials are actively involved in aerospace medical research. They are concerned with the medical aspects of physical conditioning which impinge upon crewcember perfor •m• ance and have perfected several devices which test pilot bio logical functioning and motor response ability. Or Inal Ge"orgiyevich Akoyev, a noted radiation biologist explainr,d cosmic ray particles (phosphenes) which are causing Aeroflot pilots to "see" flashes ·of light during night flying. Or [fnu ] Akutin, cvhern:ti:ist at the Civil Aviation Institute of Leningrad showed ~ _ prototype pilot biological psychomotor testing equip .____a:e_ n~t~ w~ i-c~ m- e~asu res blood pressure, pulse rate, cardiovascular function and 1110tor ability. The equipment is automatic and test ing is _completed in approximately three minutes. l j l, The Soviets deal with crelllllember fatigue in several ways. First, :hey emphasize and ' prOlllote physical conditioning. • If a creWl!lember 1s phy$ i cally fit, he wil l be less prone to fatigue and will recover sooner after tiring flights, Aeroflot provides exercise facilities at all major alr• • pores, and these facU .ities are supervised by a well known a.thlete. The second thing they do is to thoroughly test each cre,,,oeober prior to flir,~~ to insu~e his physi~al fitn~s• and 111ental al,ertness. At the present ti-.ttf., these tests are cond~ted by a medical team headed by a doctor, usuali y a woun. A crewmetnber 1a not alloved to fly if he fails the examina·tfon. : • These teats are nov being automated aad will take only l-3 minutes whim the prototype equipment becomes operational. Finally, there is a third Approach Aeroflot 1s using--a prophylactoriWll. Each 111.ljor airport has one, a 3 to 4 story building set off from the 11141n airport buil~1ngs, .but easily acces- ! sible by foot. These facilities are well landscaped and are designed to provik. total rest and relaxation for trans1e~t crewaembera." They have a lat'te kitcher,5 ¢ 3 ., I

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GONFIDBNTIAL 00B-321/33474-76 3 6, Dr Akeyev nsked for personal oplaion o!theUfo pher.nuencr:. He was told thar g9 percent ot these occurreius were traceable to cither naciral or man-made phenomea sitch ac celestial movenent,air- crait or artificial satellites,and that the other one percent cannot he expiained--possibly an hallucination.Akoyev then sked,Do you think it is possible...could therc be some:hing coming'from outer space? 7. Drlfnuj Akutin.a cyberrecicist at the Civil Aviation Institute of Leninyrau.has developed several prototypes of pilot testing equipment. The equint is plannei to replace cost of the current duties of medical nersonnei who examiic p:lots prior to flight.The automatic devices will be installed in ali airport flight operations facilities. Akutin and his ossoriaros .enonstratcd a set of instruinents which automat- icallv muure n piluts blood pressure and pulse rate, tecord his cardio- vascila:anetioning with aelectttardiogran,and test hi:motor reaction process. The device is activated by inserting a small metallic plate into the testing machine. The plate,one of which is carried by each crewmember, contains a biological baseline on that particular individual.His normal blood pressure.pulse rate,electrocardiogram,and aotor abflity are coded into the metal plate.This plate is updated annually,or more often if required. After the plate is inserted into the machine, the pilot places the middle finger of each hand into two little holes and rests his wrists on two small metal plates on a table. Small,automatic pnetmatic cups pressure and pulse rate by comparing the two fingers, computing a mean, and then comparing the result with the encoded information on the pilot's plate. The systolic and diastolic blood pressure and pulse rate are chen displa)e on the face of che machine in an electronic digital form. At the same tie the machine automatically administers an electrocardiogram across the heart'and displays this on a cathode-ray tube.I If auy of these vaiues i.t: outside the normal standa:d for that particular individual,a light illur mtesand further examination is required by a medical doctor.If no ligil illuminates, the pilot is passed. COPY 9. The pilot then faces a panel of red and green colored lights. On the panei are green and red colored bnttons. The lighcs begin to illuminate in a randon fashion,with the pilot being required to press the corresponding color button fmmediately to extinouish the colored light.This test continues for approximately 20-30 seconds,during which the lights flash in & random sequence. At the end of the testing period, the machine scores the pilot's performance and digitally displays his score in the number of standard,he is passed; if his score is lower,a light illuminates and separate programs which are randomly selected, making it impossible to memorize thc sequence of the lights. 10.Finally,the pilot is seated before a minfature cockpit with & control stick and an attitude indicator..The.control stick must be moved to keep the attitude indicator (artificial horizon) straight and level. The indicator pitches up and dowm and from side to side and very closely dupii- cates actual instrument flying conditiona. The control stick also closely approximated necessary pflot skilis.'At the end of this test, che score is again displayed and,depending upon his standard,a pilot passes or fails. The entire Sequence of testing,from taking blood pressure to the control stick evaluation,takes approximately three minutes. If a pilot passes all phases, his personal profile plate along with a certiii- cate card is returned to him. He must present the certificate card to 4 the flight dispatcher before he is ailowed to board the.aircraft. 3 Z

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