Courtesy Photo | U.S. Air Force Col. Christopher Borchardt takes a photo while flying a Northrop T-38...... read more read more
The sky was never the limit for Col. Christopher Borchardt, it was a lifetime calling.
Before donning the uniform as a U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, Borchardt was a kid who marveled for hours at airplanes passing overhead, read every book on aviation he could find, and would jump at the opportunity to tour an aircraft’s cockpit. He later earned his pilot’s license from a small-town airport near his childhood home in Michigan where he jokingly said he would “beg, borrow, and steal” for any chance to fly.
“I was an aviation enthusiast throughout my entire life,” Borchardt said. “I was studying aircraft schematics. I had books about fighters and everything … all these technical details about the aircraft that even a lot of pilots don’t even need to know. That was something I enjoyed.”
He grew up inspired by relatives who shared his passion for aviation. One great uncle served in the Indian Health Service as a pilot physician, flying to remote areas and providing care for indigenous communities. “My uncles and great uncle who flew seaplanes in Metlakatla, Alaska, they were combining medicine and flying … and would do missionary flights in South America,” Borchardt said.
His early fascination with aviation would eventually merge with another deeply rooted calling in medicine - a path set forth by generations of physicians in his family.
“By the time I went to medical school, there were 23 family members who had all graduated from Loma Linda University, Southern California [for medicine],” Borchardt said. “The family kind of just expected that.”
The beginning of a flight career
Borchardt commissioned into the Air Force in 1992 as a lieutenant and was selected for the Health Professions Scholarship Program. Eventually, his deployments as a flight surgeon took him to Iraq, the UAE and Jordan, where he supported joint medical operations and oversaw aeromedical evacuations.
In 2006, he deployed to Kirkuk, Iraq, on short notice. “There’s only one flight a week, and the character I was replacing left on the plane I came in on with the engines still running,” he recalled. He was stationed alongside Army personnel and remembers the gravity of the planning sessions. “They’re throwing down these enormous maps, and they’re saying, ‘If you get blown up here, you’ve got six minutes to live.’ It always started like that. ‘You blow up here, you’ve got X minutes to live.’”
In Tikrit, he served as the region's only critical care transport provider. “If they’re going to make it, it’s because I'm going to get my act together,” he said.
Borchardt credited the Army medics’ confidence in the Expeditionary Medical Support unit with pushing him to go above and beyond.
“The Army was so confident that if they made it to the EMEDS, they would live,” he said. “That forced us to be better, smarter, more dedicated in a way that you can't just muster yourself.”
Human Systems Integration and mishap response
Borchardt later transitioned from clinical operations to human systems integration, an area focused on how aircrew interact with technology and cockpit environments.
In what was the Air Force’s costliest mishap of its time, Borchardt was assigned to the Accident Investigation Board for the 2008 B-2 Spirit stealth bomber crash at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.
“It was a fascinating opportunity and challenging puzzle to solve for an aviation enthusiast like me,” he said. “Because of my background with fly-by-wire aircraft, I was able to identify the technical issue with the plane simply by watching a video of the incident before we had any aircraft data recordings.”
His unique blend of aviation knowledge and medical training enabled him to analyze aircraft video footage and pinpoint a sensor issue that contributed to the crash.
This systems-level understanding has helped him identify physiological and operational factors that eventually led to improved safety measures. Few are qualified to occupy this niche intersection of medicine and aviation, one that Borchardt has made his own.
Advancing Human Systems and aviation safety
Borchardt serves as the medical director and inspector for the Air Force Inspection Agency, coordinating with senior leaders to maintain safety policies and standards across 76 Air Force hospitals and clinics. Previously, he served as the Human Systems Integration Advisor at both Headquarters Air Combat Command and Air Force Special Operations Command, where he optimized warfighter performance and drove safety innovation across the commands.
He has worked closely with the Air Force Research Laboratory and Naval Medical Research Unit-Dayton while assigned to the 711th Human Performance Wing to address physiological episodes in military aircraft - complex health events that arise from the interaction between aircrew and life support systems.
“The key is to focus on understanding and adapting to the new benefits and unforeseen limitations of the newest life-support systems to avoid physiologic challenges,” Borchardt said.
In a role that blends medicine, engineering, and operational insight, Borchardt emphasized integrating human factors early in aircraft development and acquisition.
“These differences [can] contribute to physiologic events in ways not predicted; and therefore, such modifications should be substantially tested early in the standards development and acquisitions process.”
His leadership philosophy centers on prevention through design: identifying risks to aircrew performance before they manifest and building smarter, safer systems for tomorrow’s warfighters.
From caring for wounded warfighters to ensuring aviation safety for Air Force pilots, his work has exemplified the Air Force Medical Service’s commitment to innovation, integrity, and excellence in all we do.
| Date Taken: | 06.11.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.11.2025 14:07 |
| Story ID: | 500346 |
| Location: | FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 39 |
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This work, Aviation meets medicine: A flight surgeon’s lifelong journey, by Maristela Romero, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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