EDITORIAL

Aviation in general has been in turmoil this year with the outbreak of COVID-19 and the resultant travel restrictions. Many airlines have cut back both in operational staff and airline medical departments are under pressure, albeit have taken on different roles and responsibilities. Many operators have had to make significant adjustments to operations, as is reflected by the paper by Ganesh et al, noting the lessons learnt in RFDS operations during the outbreak.

It is pleasing to see that there is still a healthy interest in aviation, and that interest continues in the aeromedical aspect of aviation. In this year’s volume, we have a contributions from Masters in Aviation Medicine students who have undertaken literature reviews as part of their studies.

A number of other papers are still under peer review and will be published early next year. It has been a busy year for many of us, including those of us editors, peer reviewers and typesetters, and as editor in chief, I thank all for their contributions to the journal this year.

We have now an editorial board in place to further strengthen the journal’s direction moving forward and thanks also to those who have agreed to serve on the board to support me in developing JASAM into a quality, well regarded source of aeromedical literature.

As always, the journal invites submissions from those aeromedical examiners working in the field in terms of case reports that can be shared collegially with colleagues from around the world.

Here’s hoping that 2021 brings some stability and re-growth to the aviation sector!