The Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha inaugurated the 64th International Congress of Aviation and Space Medicine, organised by the Indian Society of Aviation Medicine (ISAM) in Delhi recently.

He stressed upon the fact that the modern aircraft, with advanced technology are highly capable, however human capabilities both physical, physiological and psychological at times cause a constraint in full exploitation of these machines to their full potential. This gap is ably bridged by aviation medicine specialists who take an active part to ensure that the man-machine combination is optimised by being a friend, philosopher and guide to aircrew and all others associated with aviation.

Air Marshal Pawan Kapoor, DGMS (Air) and the President of ISAM, said that the theme of the congress ‘Learn & Overcome’ focused on the desire to overcome all stumbling blocks in the way of progress of aviation and further build on our contributions to the cause of aerospace safety and human performance optimisation. Dr Pooshan Navathe, a renowned aviation medicine expert, delivered the prestigious Dr Andre Allard lecture wherein he brought out how more and more aircrew with different medical issues can continue to fly without hampering aerospace safety. All this is possible because of the advancement of medical science and the use of evidence based medicine to ensure that trained aircrew both military and civil continues to remain in the cockpit.