Effects of the Chemical Defense Antidote Atropine Sulfate on Helicopter Pilot Performance: An In-Flight Study

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Effects of the Chemical Defense Antidote Atropine Sulfate on Helicopter Pilot Performance: An In-Flight Study

J. A. Caldwell / D. J. Carter / R. L. Stephens / L. W. Stone / D. M. Delrie

The effect of 2 mg and 4 mg injections of atropine sulfate on helicopter pilots was investigated using a specially instrumented UH-1H helicopter and several laboratory tests. A counterbalanced, within-subjects design was employed in which flight performance, vision, electroencephalographic activity, cognitive skill, and tracking performance were assessed on each of three different drug administration days (placebo, 2 mg, and 4 mg) separated by control days. Results indicated numerous atropine-related difficulties, seen most often with the 4 mg dose. Measurements of flight performance revealed decrements on at least one measure (i.e., heading, air speed, vertical speed) in both visual- and instrument-referenced straight and level flight, standard-rate turns, a straight climb and descent, steep turns, a climbing turn, and an instrument landing system (ILS) approach. Also, there were degradations in performance of a confined area approach and an out-of-ground-effect hover maneuver. Vision tests showed atropine-related increases in pupil diameter and double vision, concurrent with decreases in accommodation and depth perception. Cognitive tests revealed decrements in visual search, logical reasoning, quantitative ability, short-term memory, and response times. Psychomotor tracking tasks indicated atropine-induced increases in tracking errors across three levels of tracking complexity, and these sometimes were accompanied by deficits in responding to a secondary task. Electrophysiological data revealed a number of effects on both evoked potentials and resting EEGs which were consistent with the observed atropine-related performance problems.