From the runway to the airway and beyond
- 1Human Factors Advisor for Patient Safety, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, Rockville, USA
- 2Editor, QSHC, BMJ Group, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, UK
- Correspondence to: Dr K Henriksen Human Factors Advisor for Patient Safety, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850, USA; KHenriksahrq.gov
Embracing simulation and team training—now is the time
Ed Link had an early fascination with flying, yet the expensive costs of plane rentals and fuel to practice his piloting skills were beyond his modest salary as a tuner of pianos and organs. So in 1928, using organ parts, bellows, and compressed air, he finished construction of a mechanical device he called the “pilot maker” (see http://www.link.com/history.html). It had short wooden wings with a fuselage mounted on a universal joint, capable of pitching and rolling while the fledgling pilot worked the controls. Further improvements to the device in the 1930s enabled pilots to train to fly in adverse weather guided by instruments, ushering in the era of modern day training simulators. During wrld wr II, tens of thousands of pilots were trained in Link simulators, and a …
