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High-tech cushions to soften sorties for crews

Taxi drivers have beaded seat covers. Sports fans have vinyl-covered foam.

Soon, aircrews will have their own high-tech seat cushions to keep them comfortable on long-distance missions.

The Air Force Research Lab has developed a seat cushion able to withstand the rigors of high-G ejections while keeping pilots from squirming during missions that put their endurance to the test, such as 24-hour B-2 Spirit sorties or fighter flights across an ocean.

“Our goal is to have them available next year,” said Scott Fleming, co-director of the program for Lab’s Human Effectiveness Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Work on the cushion, which is the same size as the foam-filled pads aircrews use now, began about four years ago. While waiting for the new cushions, pilots seeking more comfort have devised their own ad hoc solutions, such as inflatable hernia pillows or foam padding.

The new cushion uses a pair of battery powered air pumps to inflate and deflate two snake-like air chambers inside the cushion. The constant movement keeps blood flowing in the buttocks and prevents hot spots from developing. A press of a button will shut down the pumps.

The design is essentially the same as commercially available cushions created for people who sit for hours at a time, such as those who use wheelchairs.

For a new cushion to pass Air Force muster, it had to provide comfort without interfering with ejection seats, said Nathan Wright, the program’s other director.

The cushions are now undergoing flight tests. In the next month, F-16 pilots at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and B-2 pilots at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., will be flying with them. Later testing calls for operational F-16 pilots to use the cushions while flying across the Atlantic.