Wing Commander Bonnie Posselt is one of only four military Consultants in Aviation and Space Medicine working in the UK and she talks through her scientific world and her RAF career to date.
What is your job?
“I am one of four consultants who provide evidence on what best helps military personnel to survive and thrive in hostile aviation and space environments. I love the fact that I deal with the whole human body and it’s not just a nine-to-five job. We oversee human research that supports pilots and aircrew to operate with the latest equipment to protect them against all the hazards of flying.”
What are you responsible for?
“Research, sharing research findings, clinical assessments and accident investigations in the RAF. The aviation environment is a really challenging one. There’s not enough oxygen, there’s not enough pressure. It’s noisy. It’s cold. And we want people not just to survive, but to win the fight and be better than everyone else.
“Alongside my colleagues I conduct research, commission research and keep up with and interrogate other research. Lots of research. Our job includes working with squadrons or others in the RAF to work out what’s the best way to do something, taking into consideration the resource constraints and without compromising safety. We call it human optimisation.”
What changes have you noticed over time?
“Flight safety. What would have been tolerated or just considered high jinks 50 years ago is not anymore. After the Nimrod disaster in 2006, the Hadon-Cave report really focused on improving flight safety to prevent unnecessary or preventable aircraft mishaps. In other countries there can be more of a focus on increasing human performance instead.
“Also, we have a female working group to research and address some of the particular issues that create barriers to women serving on the front line and make their service equitable to men’s: such as improved protective and flight clothing, procedures and equipment for in-flight urination, safely permitting hormonal medication if required, and better understanding the flight environment on gender differences.
“We’re trying to make sure that females are considered in all RAF aviation medicine policy. And we need females to be part of that voice.”
What is your worst nightmare at work?
“The biggest challenge for aviation medicine consultants is getting project teams and the wider Air Force to involve us as early as possible. What we don’t want is for someone in the Air Force to say, we’ve just bought this bit of kit. Can we just put it into the platform? For example, an oxygen system design.
“Engineers and procurement officers sometimes think that if an oxygen system says that it delivers oxygen, that’s okay. But if they involve us in the project earlier, we can help them understand what the system requirements should be – because there are lots of things to ask: does it deliver the right amount of oxygen for all phases of breathing demands? And for all operating altitudes? How has that been ensured? It’s never as simple as just buying something off the shelf.”
What are you most proud of?
“That we provide evidence-based guidance to ensure flight safety and optimise human performance to aircraft development and operation. Our input at an early stage prevents costly retrofits, clinical incidents and mishaps. And that we have the impact at the highest level affecting operational output across all aircraft platforms and on an international stage. And I love that my work is very varied; that’s really fabulous.”
Wing Commander Posselt with an F-16 during her PhD studies at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, with the United State Air Force Research Lab. She researched human performance with helmet mounted displays, and associated vision standards and test methods used to select aircrew. ©Personal archive
Earlier in her career, Wing Commander Bonnie Posselt in the RAF Centre for Aerospace Medicine lab, testing vision standards. Not every research subject needs to be a serving RAF pilot – sometimes ‘a human’ is suffient. ©Personal archive
