A flight surgeon is a medical officer who practices in the clinical field of aviation medicine. They are physicians who serve as the primary care physicians for a variety of military aviation personnel on special duty status, such as pilots, Flight Officers, navigators/Combat Systems Officers, astronauts, missile combat crews, air traffic controllers, UAV operators, and other aircrew members, both officer and enlisted. Flight surgeons are trained to fill general public health and occupational and preventive medicine roles, and are only infrequently "surgeons" in an operating theater sense. They are responsible for maintaining the militarys strict medical standards, especially the even stricter standards that apply to those on flying, controlling, or jump (airborne) status.
The title “flight surgeon” is a bit confusing, because most of these doctors are not pilots, nor do they perform surgery. However, they do work to help crew members navigate extreme stress and medical problems they face while working in the air or in space. Flight surgeons are typically rated aviators on flight status, meaning they log flight hours in military aircraft as a crewmember, but are not required to be rated or licensed pilots, naval flight officers, or navigators/CSOs.
The role of a flight surgeon includes conducting medical examinations and providing care for air and missile crews, determining fitness for flying and special duties, evaluating living and working environments to detect and control health hazards, regularly participating in flying missions to observe and advise on aeromedical issues, developing and managing preventive medicine programs, establishing procedures for managing casualties in aviation accidents and other disasters, providing advice on aeromedical evacuation, and serving on aviation mishap investigation boards.
In addition to the military, NASA also employs flight surgeons. A Flight Surgeon is a physician that has specialized training and board certification in Aerospace Medicine. Most flight surgeons are also board certified in an additional specialty such as family medicine or neurology and maintain their certifications in both specialties. They are responsible for overseeing the health care and medical training of astronauts when they are preparing for their mission and also take care of any medical issues that arise before, during, or after spaceflight. During a mission, flight surgeons work the console in the NASA Mission Control Center (MCC) under the call sign ‘Surgeon’ and hold weekly private medical conferences with the astronauts.
