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Airway Management

JULY 21, 2025

Managing the Airway, and Other Medical Emergencies, At 30,000 Feet

Keith J. Ruskin, MD
Fellow, Aerospace Medical Association
Fellow, Royal Aeronautical Society
Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care
The University of Chicago

Anesthesia professionals manage unstable patients with altered physiology in cramped environments with poor lighting as part of our everyday job, making us uniquely suited to volunteer when flight attendants ask if there is a physician onboard.

In 2015, more than 3 billion people traveled on commercial airline flights. This corresponds to 9