Environmental Tectonics Corporation (ETC) has been awarded a contract to deliver its new Falcon Model 12/4 altitude/hyperboric chambers to the Spanish Air Force (SPAF).
Under the terms of the $6m contract, ETC will supply an unspecified number of advanced chamber units for installation at a new aeromedical facility, which is currently being constructed at Torrejon Air Force Base in Madrid, Spain.
Additional responsibilities include delivery of logistics support services for relocation and recertification of the air force’s already deployed Falcon hypobaric chambers.
Environmental Tectonics president and CEO William Mitchell said the chambers will ensure optimal and secure preparation of all aircrew by providing an access to initial altitude training exercises.
Th chambers will be used by the air force to conduct flight crew physiology training in environments of varying altitudes.
The Falcon altitude chamber is an advanced, turnkey system designed to help instructors prepare aircrew in countering a wide range of challenging conditions, such as hypoxia, hyperventilation, and mechanical gas expansions normally experienced at higher altitudes.
Offering simulated cabin decompressions with adjustable rates of 0.085 to 20 seconds, the chamber provides trainees with an environment to recognise their individual physiological responses to low oxygen levels and implement corrective actions for self re-oxygenation and also for other personnel.
The chamber will also train aircrew in oxygen equipment checkout and use, oxygen system emergency procedures and pressure breathing techniques.
More than 40 hypoboric chambers have been supplied by the company since 1973 to the US Navy, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and several international military aeromedical centres worldwide.
A suite of altitude chambers is currently being delivered to the US Air Force (USAF).
