Coincident loss of consciousness and ventricular tachycardia during +GZ stress

The environment of the advanced fighter aircraft represents a unique combination of stressful factors. Each of the individual stresses is hazardous, with the summation of these factors possibly resulting in an additional risk for sudden in-flight incapacitation. Advanced fighter aircraft are capabble of producing both rapid onset and high sustained +GZ forces which, on occasion, can exceed the tolerance limits of the pilot. The +GZ forces encountered during aerial combat maneuvering are physiologically stressful and have a profound effect on the regulatory mechanisms of the body. The influence of these stresses, including +GZ stress, on the autonomic nervous system is complex. The overall normal regulation of the cardiovascular system depends on a balance between both branches of the autonomic nervous system. An imbalance between sympathetic and parasympathetic tone can result in cardiac dysrhythmias and symptoms not conducive to safe and effective flight. An episode of ventricular tachycardia, coincident with an episode of loss of consciousness, was observed in an apparently healthy aircrewman during +GZ stress on the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine human centrifuge. The implications of autonomic imbalance in the production of similar potentially hazardous dysrhythmias and symptoms in the multistress environment deserve more in-depth investigation.