It can carry a maximum of 12 litter or 24 ambulatory casualties and 2 corpsmen.

The aircraft is capable of flying in excess of 25,000 feet, however, the cabin is not pressurized. Casualties transported at this altitude will require supplementary oxygen for breathing and some may develop decompression sickness (nitrogen bubbles in the blood) on descent for landing.

The likelihood of developing decompression sickness depends on many factors, including the altitude, duration of exposure, rate of descent, physical status of the patient, hydration status, and any pre-flight prophylaxis. For typical military patients in typical military settings, a one-hour flight at 25,000 feet might produce decompression illness in as many as 50% of patients.

Flying at lower altitudes leads to a lower risk of decompression illness, even if the duration of exposure is longer. Flying at or below 10,000 feet essentially eliminates the risk.

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Operational Medicine 2001

Health Care in Military Settings

This web version is provided by The Brookside Associates Medical Education Division.  It contains original contents from the official US Navy NAVMED P-5139, but has been reformatted for web access and includes advertising and links that were not present in the original version. This web version has not been approved by the Department of the Navy or the Department of Defense. The presence of any advertising on these pages does not constitute an endorsement of that product or service by either the US Department of Defense or the Brookside Associates. The Brookside Associates is a private organization, not affiliated with the United States Department of Defense.

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