This report present some of the technical background necessary for understanding the aeromedical importance of sickle-cell disease and the sickle-trait carrier, whose erythrocytes contain mixtures of hemoglobin S and normal hemoglobin A. This carrier state (type AS) is not limited to Negroes; it has been found, with lower frequency, in people exhibiting no evidence of African inheritance.
Reports of type AS people who died suddenly, exhibiting sickle cells at necropsy, and other reports of sickling crises in these individuals at mild altitudes, have led some authors to conclude that airmen and air passengers who are type AS are at considerable risk. Other reports, particularly those based on the flying experiences of large numbers of pilots with sickle trait, as well as on the results of experimental exposures of type AS people to simulated altitude, indicate that isolated instances of sudden death and altitude intolerance are infrequent in this genotype.
This report continues a review (see FAA-AM-76-15) of the evidence for mixed dominance of the Hbs beta gene in people with the sickle cell trait. These...
Ten healthy female pilots, 20-49 years old and weighing more than 110 pounds were tested for tolerances to hypoxia orthostatic stress, and physical wo...
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