flight surgeon
3
6.5
- noun
- /flaɪt ˈsɜrdʒən/
- Specialized
:
médico de vuelo
- At T-minus 4 hours, 30 minutes... Colonel Charles Brubaker, the Command Pilot... Lieutenant Colonel Peter Willis and Commander John Walker... were awakened by Dr. Roger Burroughs, the flight surgeon.
- flight surgeon of the Air Force
- flight surgeon at NASA
- naval flight surgeon
Examples
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"When they got back, the flight surgeon sent him to the infirmary.
Blog text (1) -
My father was flight surgeon at Beale Air Force Base.
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If the flight surgeon had to okay me for this mission, I'd be grounded.
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Flight surgeons will be there waiting.
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The MOD that night in the ER was a flight surgeon, Maj. Shirley Heelam.
Fiction book (1999) -
Menon is a flight surgeon assigned to the 173rd Fighter Wing (F-15s) of the Oregon Air National Guard, and he's
Blog text (2) -
The flight surgeon conducted thorough medical evaluations to ensure all astronauts were fit for their missions.
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As the flight surgeon, she monitored the health of the pilots during the challenging space mission.
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Before each flight, the flight surgeon reviewed the crew's health records to identify any potential risks.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound combines 'flight' (relating to aviation) with 'surgeon' (a medical specialist), so a learner who knows both words can reasonably infer it denotes a medical specialist associated with flights/aircrew. The meaning is compositional and follows a common noun+noun pattern (specialist X), making it readily understandable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The term flight surgeon comes from early military days when a doctor often joined training flights to see how flying affected the crew, so the words flight and surgeon give the literal image of a doctor with the flight. That's why it means a doctor who looks after the 'health and fitness' of pilots and astronauts.