| SOUTHAMPTON, Pa., March 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Environmental
Tectonics Corporation (Amex: ETC) announced the AeroMedical Training
Institute's first International High Performance Human Centrifuge (HPHC)
Safety Seminar was held at ETC Headquarters in Southampton, PA, during
February 24 - 28, 2003. Aeromedical and Engineering professionals from Italy
and Sweden attended. Traditionally, human centrifuges have been low performance devices. Many were single axis devices that generated G force through centrifugal force. G onset rates provided by these centrifuges were typically low. The pilot sat in a gondola that was on the end of the centrifuge arm. As the centrifuge accelerated, the gondola swung out and the centrifugal force vector became approximately aligned with the pilot's +Gz, or head to foot, axis. A passive (resistance) damping system attempted to control the gondola oscillations during acceleration and deceleration. These centrifuges replicated the Gz forces experienced by the pilot during maneuvering flight (but not the other G forces) and provided the pilot a safe and controlled environment to experience G forces and learn proper countermeasure so he could tolerate the G forces in flight. As aircraft became more sophisticated and higher performance, training needs changed and the demand for high performance human centrifuges that could match aircraft performance grew. In an effort to allow for more interactive and realistic centrifuge training, powered multi-axis centrifuges were developed. These modern centrifuges incorporated powered pitch and roll drive systems, visual displays, interactive flight controls and flight performance models to provide the pilot with an accurate and realistic high G flying experience. In order to simulate tactical flight, these centrifuges needed to be able to achieve high G onset rates (up to 10 G/sec) and high G levels (up to 15 G). Further, they had to be able to generate not only Gz forces, but also Gx (front to back) and Gy (side to side) forces. While this increase in centrifuge performance has been necessary, it has created a situation where the High Performance Human Centrifuge can, if not carefully controlled, exceed the limits of human tolerance to these G forces. Accordingly stringent safety requirements are needed in these machines to insure the pilot would not be injured in training. ETC is the world leader in centrifuge safety. ETC produced their first multi-axis centrifuge with this capability, the U. S. Navy C-FET, in 1993. This was followed by deliveries to Singapore in 1994 and the Japanese Defense Agency in 1999. ETC's Second Generation High Performance Human Training and Research Centrifuge, the G-FET II, is currently under construction in ETC's Southampton, PA facility. It can produce -8Gz to +25Gz, 0 to +8 Gy, and +/-10 Gx sustained accelerations at onsets of up to 10 G/s. The gondola is suspended in an electromechanically powered, dual gimbaled, high performance positioning system that responds to a programmed aeromodel and gives the device the ability to support sustained G, Tactical Flight Simulation (TFS). The high fidelity cockpit has closed loop flight controls, variable seat angle capability, and wide field view, out-the-window visual scenes. These systems are integrated through advanced computer and control architecture and aircraft flight algorithms to produce high fidelity, aircraft specific flight performance. The G-FET II's Tactical Flight Simulation training capabilities include:
The AMTI HPHC Safety Seminar covered a variety of subjects including: System Safety Overview, the ETC Safety Process, Centrifuge Safety Analysis, Safety Results, G-FET II Safety Features, the Independent Safety Computer, Hazard Logs, Analysis, Modeling, Test, Centrifuge Motion Control, Centrifuge Stopping Modes, Centrifuge Safety Interlocks, Centrifuge Based Acceleration Training, Human Tolerance To Sustained Acceleration, The Man Rating Process, Change Hazard Analysis / Design Authority, and Defect Reporting and Corrective Action. Discussions were held throughout the seminar and many good ideas were shared. Demonstrations were performed by the ETC Seminar leaders using ETC's G-FET II High Performance Human Centrifuge. ETC President William F. Mitchell said, "The AMTI HPHC International Safety Seminar was a total success. Feedback from attendees was all positive and ETC plans on making this very important exchange an annual event. In fact, we plan to offer the next HPHC safety seminar in October of this year." ETC designs, develops, installs and maintains aircrew training systems, public entertainment systems, process simulation systems (sterilization and environmental), clinical hyperbaric systems, environmental testing and simulation systems, and related products for domestic and international customers. This report contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about the Company that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any other future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "could," "would," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "continue," or the negative of such terms or similar expressions. Factors that may cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, contract cancellations, political unrest in customer countries, general economic conditions, and those issues identified from time to time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and other public documents, including, without limitation, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 22, 2002. |
www.amtiusa.com