NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17663, 14 August 1929, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE

STRICT M£DICAL EXAMINATION LATEST GENERAL ORDERS. OTHER NECESSARY MATTERS. The strict nature of the medical examination which candidates for* appointment to commissions as pilots in the New Zealand Air Force (permanent and territorial) must undergo, is revealed in the conditions laid down in General Orders just issued iVom fcleadqua rters.

The medical examinations will be carried out by a board of medical officers onsisting of a medical officer who is a general practitioner, an eye specialist, and an ear, throat and nose specialist. Such boards will be detailed by tho Director of Medical Services. A candidate must l>e 3n good mental and bodily health and five from any physical defect likely to interfere with his instruction in aviation and the efficient performance of his duties in New Zealand or abroad. The lines of the medical examination are very definitely laid down, and evidence of certain respiratory and other diseases absolutely disqualifies. Candidates found to he suffering from a complaint which would entail rejection hut is curable by operation will be marked unfit, but the board may recommend re-examination after operation. A history of fracture of the skull definitely disqualifies for air work, hut the scars, the result of removal of tuberculous glands, will not he considered a cause of rejection. Dental deficiencies must he completely remedies. hut artificial teeth do not■.disqualify. The eyes, ears, nose and throat will also be thoroughly examined and tested. Tn regard to hearing the hearing in 'each ear must be acute, equivalent to a forced whisper at 20ft.. each, car" being teitecl separately with the other ear blocked and the face turned away. If treatment will bring effective hearing up to standard the candidate may be deferred and examined later. Tn view of the common nature of the complaints mentioned, the following requirements are also ■of general interest: Mouth breathing is a serious flying disability; .and condition which obstructs theijfree passage of air through the naso-pharynx mu'st be remedied before a candidate is

accepted. Septic tonsils—even, small remnants which are the cause of repeated sore throat!? or chronic enlargement, of the glands of the neck—must be enucleated before acceptance. Adenoids, however small in amount, if they cause repeated colds, with acute or subacute Eustachian obstruction, or catarrhal or suppurative inflammation of the middle ear, must be removed.