Day 7: G-force training

Mike: Once the formalities had been dealt with, the public relations officer took us over to the building that housed one of the fastest accelerating centrifuges available in the world to test human beings. Apart from making a good TV programme, the role of this machine was to make sure that Zeron and I wouldn't have trouble coping with the extreme g-forces that we would experience in a modern day jet fighter. Again the building looked new. It was carpeted and even had well-stocked magazine racks on the back of each toilet door to ensure that airmen wouldn't become bored when having a dump. There was a cheap self-service canteen, the walls were decorated with photographs of the squadrons based at the airfield over the years and the chairs in the lecture theatres were so comfortable that I could have slept in them. In fact, the place was so smart and comfortable that I soon felt totally relaxed, until we attended the lecture.

Our first task was to hear how to prepare ourselves for a 'high-g environment'. There were four of us at the lecture: Zeron, myself, and two pilots who were also both called Mike. Zeron and I were there just to make a TV programme. I wanted to beat Zeron, he wanted to beat me, but if neither of us completed the tests it wouldn't really matter.

Zeron: This was nuts, Mike and I were taking the same lecture on how to withstand 9g as two fighter pilots. They were only 8g trained and needed to pass the 9g test to fly in the F-16. I was in awe that I was in such company. If these guys failed, it would jeopardise their career. If we failed, so what?!

g-LOC

Mike: The first thing our lecturer, Lt Vikki Thompson, told us was what to expect from high-g manoeuvres. The list of effects included monochrome (black and white) vision, tunnel vision, greyouts, blackouts and g-LOCs (g-force induced Loss Of Consciousness). Apparently these are a result of the blood draining away from your brain and into your feet, so to avoid them you have to find a way of stopping this from happening. The slides and video clips showing people suffering all of the above were scary, and neither Zeron or I were cocky any more. Winning the ride in the F-16 wasn't the challenge anymore, just getting through the tests without pissing in our pants would be enough. The scariest thing was watching the haunting image of pilots regaining consciousness after a g-LOC, jerking and convulsing as they came to, dancing the 'funky chicken'. This is where the blood starts returning to your head after you've lost consciousness, the effect seems to be a bit like kick-starting your brain.

 Zeron: I listened intently to Vikki, our g-coach. She spoke to us and treated us just like pilots. By now all thoughts of competitiveness was gone from my mind, the whole ocean of what I was about to do had finally hit me.

Mike: A healthy person would expect to start suffering from a loss of vision and other g-induced problems at 5 or 6g; after that they usually need help. The first line of defence is The Strain. It's an exhausting exercise which involves contracting as many muscles as possible in your feet, calves, upper leg, stomach muscles and butt cheeks, while allowing your upper body to remain relaxed so that breathing is relatively easy. It sounds simple enough, but when each of us was brought out to the front of the 'class' to practise, it was far from it. After four or five attempts I managed to synchronise all these movements quickly enough, so that if I knew a hard turn was coming during flight I could 'put on my strain' almost instantly.

Zeron: Front of the class I got the buttocks and calf clenching almost right away. I have a strong lower body from the low Whu Shu (the type of martial arts I do) stance leaps and kicks I do, so I found this wasn't too difficult.

Mike: "Cool," I thought, "got that sussed." Then I tried again ten minutes later while Zeron was practising. Arse - I'd got it all wrong.

The next stage was to work on our breathing. At 9g breathing isn't easy. Imagine lying on the floor with eight people of your size lying on top of you. Whilst not exactly the same as experiencing a 9g turn I was told that it's pretty close. Obviously breathing out isn't difficult, but getting air back in is another matter. The effort needed to breathe in, under those circumstances, is extreme. And as less blood reaches the brain than normal, you want to make sure it has as much oxygen in it as possible, so correct, regulated breathing is doubly important.

The technique that we were taught was to take a natural intake of breath before putting on our strain, then seal our throats with a 'phonetic K'. This is the sound when you say "Ka". After this, every three seconds (which were counted for us) we had to take another breath. Of course, exhaling would be easy, so the air would almost explode out of us when pulling gs, but it would need to be followed immediately be a swift intake of breath and again sealed in with a phonetic 'K'. The breathing routine was practised several times, and I nearly always got it wrong, either breathing in too far on the first breath, or not breathing in fast enough on subsequent breaths. When done properly Vikki (or later during the real test the centrifuge technician) would prompt us in a weird conversation which went something like this:

"Take a breath then strain."
"Hhhak, Hmmph."
"Now hold it and count one, two, three, breathe."
"Kaaaa, Hoook."
"Relax your chest, two, three, breathe."
"Kaaaa, Hook."
"Maintain your strain, breathe."
"Kaaaa, Hoook."
"Two, three, you're doing well, breathe." "Kaaaa, Hoook." "Not long now, two, three, breathe."
"Kaaaa, Hoook."
"One, two, three, relax."

 Zeron: The breathing skills took some getting used to! It wasn't easy. They expected us to pick this up in one lesson. The only thing for me to do was to keep practicing. So for the rest of the time all you heard was me going "Kaaa," and "Hoook". We now had to go over and have a full air force medical where my breathing was about to get very erratic.

Mike's asthma causes real problems

Mike: Next I had a real blow to my chances of flying. After filling in the forms for health and safety I was told that my asthma would prevent me from being able to go in the centrifuge or the jet fighter. I had already been told that I would never make a jet fighter pilot because I was colour blind. For the sake of the programme Andy Cubin, back in the UK, let me carry on but now my asthma had stopped me going any further. This was a major blow because I have always bullied myself through any incidents where asthma was a problem. Surely there had to be a way of persuading them to let me carry on.

Zeron: This was a perplexing time for me. Here I was, told that I was going to be flying in the jet after all, as Mike has been ruled out due to his asthma. I didn't know whether to feel elated or disappointed for Mike. I skipped around happily on camera but inside I was feeling bad for him.

Mike: Over the next couple of hours there were frantic phone calls between high-ranking officers. Zeron was told that he would get the flight and I got used to the idea of not flying. Then there was a phone call from a General to say that, on this occasion, I could go on with the centrifuge testing and possibly the flight. None of this appeared in the programme. Predictably I was elated, but Zeron had been messed about something rotten.

Zeron: Damn - the competition's back on!

  < previous   next > Page 4 of 6

Content last updated: 25/08/2005