U.S. Army's Aviation Life Support Equipment Retrieval Program.

Abstract : In 1972, the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory (USAARL) established the Aviation Life Support Equipment Retrieval Program (ALSERP). The purpose of this program is to evaluate the effectiveness of aviation protective equipment in an aircraft accident environment and to contribute to the improvement of this equipment through modification or development of new design criteria. Department of the Army Pamphlet 385-40, Army Accident Investigation and Reporting, requires all life support equipment which is in any way implicated in the cause or prevention of injury to be shipped to USAARL for analysis. The primary objectives of the ALSERP are (a) to determine why aviation mishap occupant injuries were or were not received, and (b) to develop concepts and criteria for design improvements through the analysis of injuries and their correlation to retrieved aviation life support equipment.