The Facility

The highly specialized facility was founded in June of 1999 and is located in Melbourne, Florida. The high altitude chamber was designed to closely match most jet configurations to achieve realistic scenarios in the rare event of a cabin depressurization. The chamber is 32 feet long, 10 foot in diameter and weighs 77,000 lbs. Its tubular shape is configured to match fuselage design of most regional jets in the industry. Integration of cockpits matched with wireless ATC simulation allows flight missions to be conducted and captured on video for post flight analysis.

Initially, the effects of low oxygen are subtle and can be easily ignored until it is too late. As a neurologist who specializes in neurocognitive function, Dr.Buza'’s research has focused on the significant changes in speech, behavior and decision making that occurs at high altitude. This is augmented further by integrating crew resource management (CRM) principles which improves the statistical probability of the crew identifying a slow cabin depressurization. Dr.Buza feels that slow cabin depressuriation is one of the most dangerous scenarios that could occur during flight.