By CDR Alan “Snap” Greer
It’s a jet pilot’s worst nightmare: you’re flying on a regular cross country training flight when the pressure inside the cabin soars, you start feeling nauseous, vision blurry. You manage to guide your aircraft down safely in an emergency landing, but now what?
The local airstrip has never dealt with physiological episodes and getting the injured the medical care they need. So what do you do?
Well, there’s an app for that!
When you download the CNAF XCountry App from the Apple App Store, you’re now able to scroll to your location and the app will generate a list of the local decompression chambers with their location, hours of availability, and contact phone numbers.
Gone are the days of fumbling through phone trees and struggling to find the care you and your fellow aviators need in the event of a PE emergency.
Your flight surgeon is still your first call for any medically related issue and your command must complete the proper reporting procedures, but the app is designed to help minimize the amount of time it takes aviators to access the care that they need.
While you’re visiting the app, take a look at the “Outreach Engagement” option too. If you’re interested in planning your cross country training flights around three target areas, CNAF has per diem, lodging, and rental car funding available for you. In exchange, Recruiting Command will coordinate an outreach event for your aviators to participate in while in the area. If you have any questions, reach out to the PAO, CDR Ron "Ned" Flanders, at ronald.s.flanders1@navy.mil.
CDR Alan "Snap" Greer is the Special Projects Officer for the Chief of Staff at Commander, Naval Air Forces. When he's not building iPhone apps for the naval aviation enterprise, he's in his orchard or making fine wines. He is a C-40A pilot and a former T-45C instructor.