Fairchild getting new building

Work began Wednesday on a $6.2 million building that will be the new home of the altitude chamber at Fairchild Air Force Base.

The building, which will be the offices of the Aerospace and Operations Physiology Training Flight, is expected to be completed in June 2010, said Master Sgt. Lynn Howard.

At that point, the 65-year-old altitude – or hypobaric – chamber will be disassembled and moved inside the new building from its current home, which is a remodeled warehouse.

Air crews are required to take a training session in the altitude chamber before achieving flight status, and must take a refresher course every five years. They learn to recognize the symptoms of oxygen deprivation, which happens at high altitudes.

The Fairchild altitude chamber is the only one in the Northwest region, so air crews from other Western states use it for training.

Between 800 and 1,000 Air Force personnel go through altitude training at the base each year, Howard said.

The chamber was built in 1944, based on the date on its door, but it has been refurbished several times, she said.