Talk About Being Turned Loose...
At the 2007 I/ITSEC (Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation
Education Conference) imagine our surprise the first time we laid
eye on the "Vestimumax." This was a device that sure seemed like it
had one inclination above all else... to shake a pilot up in ways
that were rarely equaled by any aircraft. A first time exhibitor at
I/ITSEC, its manufacturer, Ultrathera Technologies, was showing off
its brainchild, the Vestimumax -- a "computer controlled multi-axis
rotating trainer capable of producing quantifiable vestibular
stimuli." In other words, it was a whirling dervish of a machine
designed to turn a pilot every which way in order to evaluate their
sensitivity or acclimate them to the rigors of aggressive
maneuvering... especially for those flying front line fighters in
air combat maneuvering.
The inventor of the Vestimumax is Kevin Maher... who, after some
encouragement from initial military forays (including guidance from
the Air Force Academy), decided that the device had the potential
to help pilots in a number of ways... to evaluate their suitability
for the rigors of flight, to help line flyers stay prepared for
aggressive flight regimes and lower the accident rate for those who
maintained their abilities (in part) with the help of devices like
his... and help those who had had some problems in the past, ease
past the issues that were plaguing them and "toughen" their
tolerances for such maneuvering.
It was a pressing personal challenge that led Maher to develop
the highly maneuverable capabilities of Vestimumax. He had
originally invented it for his daughter, stricken with cerebral
palsy. Her condition had saddled the child with "significant
sensory integration disorder"... for which medical experts had
actually 'prescribed a number of spins and rolls' on the floor for
the little girl. Maher noted that doing this by themselves (without
external aid) was difficult to maintain and wasn't the most
comfortable process for his little girl... But, since he was an
engineer, he "knew there had to be a better way." For this reason
Vestimumax was born... but it was after an association with the US
Air Force academy that he decided that other applications were
possible.
Maher hypothesized that Vestimumax could be used to set
benchmarks and evaluate/quantify responses to the
maneuvering/physical stimuli and when properly combined with the
right evaluation tools, that the device had the chance to offer a
new set of tools to those selecting flyers for new generations of
future airplanes.
Evaluation turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg, as
research showed that regular "exercise" in the Vestimumax seemed to
offer the possibility of allowing for reductions in motion sickness
and spatial disorientation and even increasing one's tolerance to
such upsets. He saw such results in his own daughter... who was
somewhat sensitive to the maneuverability of the device at first
but within a few months he found that he "could not rotate it fast
enough for her -- and she was having fun."
Maher has founded a new company, Ultrathera, to promote new
aeronautical uses for the Vestimumax. With potential utility in
pilot training duties, as well as evaluation and rehabilitation,
the future of the Vestimumax program would seem to be a solid one.
We're intrigued as to the future of this concept and intend to
follow along... we'll do our best to keep you updated.
Aero-TV Rides The
Vestimumax!!!!
About Aero-TV: It's DEFINITELY Show
Time!!!!
OK, folks, here we go... we are NOW initiating the first
feature programming series for Aero-TV... we're going to take it
slow, but we're also going to try and be steady about this. DO
UNDERSTAND that this is the most complex media program we've ever
undertaken and what you're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg...
but from here on out, we will be doing our best to educate,
inform, and entertain YOU about all aspects of the exciting worlds
of aviation and aerospace.
If you've been an observer of the media and associated media
industries over the last few years, it's not hard to mistake the
fact that a massive revolution is taking place. Old sources for
news and information are falling by the wayside, having to change
their modus operandi or risk obsolescence (or extinction).
Electronic media and print media are both under the assault of
progress, and the online world has been a cornerstone for
revolutionary change.
We've been ready to go for a while, but to be honest, there's so
much more to this program than we've alluded to, and so we've been
building and planning a massive new organization within ANN. That
said, we're hiring talented new people as
fast as we can find them (a far more difficult
task than we had imagined -- REALLY good people are hard to find),
and we're brainstorming at speeds that would make a deorbiting
Space Shuttle feel like a slug. Suffice it to say that we wanted to
do this right, rather than right-now, and that the development of
this program has been the most carefully pursued undertaking we've
ever undertaken.
E-I-C Note: The
complete feature shown above is embedded in this
story, with most of the slick and useful functionality
otherwise available on the main Aero-TV
site (which will be upgraded aggressively
over the next few weeks). The ability to embed a video on
another web page is but one of the hundreds of amazing little
features that we've worked hard on, for many months now, to
implement in different phases of the initial release of
Aero-TV. It is, BY NO MEANS, the only way to enjoy unaltered
Aero-TV programming on other parts of the web... as we have
extensive plans for future functionality, but this feature
allows those with an interest in a specific Aero-TV News or Feature
program to embed it on a different web site, though we must
note that we reserve the right to forbid such use for those sites
or purposes that we do not feel fit in with the proper mission of
the Aero-News Network, Inc.
Webmasters or Administrators of well-trafficked aviation or
aerospace related sites, are welcome to contact the Publisher to
start conversations on how they may be able to leverage some of the
immense power of Aero-TV programming for their sites and
constituency by clicking the I Want Aero-TV For
MY Website! link.
Coming Soon!
Aero-TV Shows You How To Build A Glasair Sportsman
2+2 in RECORD TIME, Gets Up Close And Personal With the Newest
Continental Powerplant To Grace A Cessna, Gets A Sobering Briefing
From P.A.S.S., Flies The Piper Matrix, Hears What's Hot At Blue
Moutain Avionics, Checks Out More "HIGH" Tech at I/ITSEC
2007, Hears From AOPA On Critical Aviation Issues, Spills Some
Juicy (and HIGHLY Detailed) Cirrus G3 Info, Shoots A Clarity Aloft
Headset Profile, Scores A BUNCH of LSA Reports, and SO
MUCH MORE!!!!! Do NOT Miss Them!
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.05.25): Circle To Runway (Runway Number)
See All