Abstract
This Paper addresses what amount of whole-body vibration is exposed to Korean pilots of UH60 helicopters during their mission flight. To measure the expose4 whole-body vibration, the 12-axis whole-body vibration measurement system was used. It enables the direct measurement of whole-body vibration exposed from the body contact area consisting of the feet, hip and back. The measured 12-axis vibration signals were used to evaluate the vibration comfort level experienced by the pilots of UH60 helicopters. The evaluated vibration comfort level is found to be closeto 0.74-0.79m/s, which is equivalent to the semantic scale of 'fairly uncomfortable'. To assess the health effects of whole-body vibration exposed to Korean pilots of UH60 helicopters during their mission flight, the rms-based and VDV(vibration dose value)-based evaluation schemes, recommended by ISO 2631-1:1977, were exploited in this work. The evaluated results indicate that Korean pilots cannot avoid the fatigue-decreased proficiency limit after two-hour continuous flight. The whole-body vibration level exposed from the UH60 helicopters during continuous 10-hours mission flight is found to reach to the vibration exposure limit.
