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Biomedical subjects

E Ricks

Publications and source records attributed to E Ricks.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Visual contrast sensitivity of U.S. Navy jet pilots.

Good visual contrast sensitivity (CS) is often described as a visual capability important for success as a military aviator and so has been suggested as a physical standard for personnel selection and retention. To evaluate this idea, we measured the CS of 135 U.S. Navy fighter pilots ranging in age from 24 to 44 years (mean = 30.20, S.D. = 4.06) and compared these to the CS of non-aviators. We obtained the non-aviator data from published studies of other investigators who used similar procedures with the same widely used, commercially available apparatus (Nicolet CST 2000). In addition to this comparison, we correlated the pilots' CS with their air-to-air target detection distances measured during air combat maneuver training and to their night carrier landing performance scores. The major findings were: 1) The mean CS of the aviators and the non-aviators were within +/- 1.0 S.D. of each other in most instances, and those few instances where a greater difference was found were parsimoniously explained by methodological and procedural factors; 2) sensitivities to different spatial frequencies were highly correlated among themselves, indicating much redundancy among the measurements; 3) there was no evidence of a relationship between CS and air-to-air target detection distances or night carrier landing performance.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Dark focus measured in Navy jet tactical fighter pilots.

Visual accommodation was measured with the laser-Badal optometer in 98 U.S. Navy fighter pilots who were in a dark environment without visual stimuli. The average dark focus of the pilots was 0.25 diopters of myopia; 40% were either emmetropic or hyperopic in the dark. Only 4% had as much dark myopia as 50% of a sample of 220 college students. Although the jet fighter pilots, as a population, differed from college students in terms of dark focus, it remains to be determined whether the remarkable dark focus of the pilots was a function of training or selection. The dark focus measurements of the pilots were compared to their mean night carrier landing scores and their mean target detection slant range scores--the distance at which an adversary aircraft is first sighted during an air combat maneuver training engagement. Neither the night carrier landing scores nor the target detection slant range scores correlated significantly with dark focus measurements.

Adult↗