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Oxygen Tragedies
Anyone who's seen a demonstration of an altitude chamber has seen the hilarious attempts pilots deprived of sufficient oxygen make when trying to perform simple tasks, like writing their name, and the surprising lack of awareness they have of the level of impairment they are suffering. Unfortunately, in real life, hypoxia is dead serious. There are only a handful of hypoxia-related accidents that take place every few years, but the other week we were witness to a couple that are examples of… (www.flyingmag.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Went through it myself. I was one of two "grown men" playing "Patty-Cake" and as it progressed, we both missed the hands and smacked each other in the face/helmet or missed altogether. Next challenge was to place certain shapes into their prospective places in a child's board game, 2 out of 10.
I have been through an Altitude chamber to prove the effects, and yes, it really shows you what can happen... I think all Pilots should be REQUIRED to go through this and then you will really see and know the effects, not just what someone tells you.
If anyone here gets an opportunity to do this, it is well worth your time.
If anyone here gets an opportunity to do this, it is well worth your time.
"Unable to control altitude, unable to control airspeed, unable to control heading but everything is a-ok!"
The words of a Kalitta Air Lear pilot after a slow rise in the cabin.
The FO was a younger, in-shape guy. He was out cold and sadly suffered brain damage from the incident.
Hypoxia is very serious and very scary.
The words of a Kalitta Air Lear pilot after a slow rise in the cabin.
The FO was a younger, in-shape guy. He was out cold and sadly suffered brain damage from the incident.
Hypoxia is very serious and very scary.
When I went through the pressure chamber at El Toro MCAS back in the 80s as a helicopter crew chief trainee, I was a fairly fit 23 year old, but I was somewhat surprised at how it went for me. I did the write my name task as well as subtract 3 from 1000 and so on (I can tell you that it is not 9997 which is what I got) and had to write out the answers. While I can remember what happened, it did give me an idea of what can happen at altitude.
I think that anyone who routinely flies above 12,000 should have to participate in such training. As a crew chief, I didn't expect to fly above 12,000 AGL ever (and even on a cross country to Alameda NAS, I don't think we even got that high).
The recent events of the past couple of weeks with pilots having issues that appear to be oxygen deprivation, it shows that it can happen to anyone at any time. Sadly, the one pilot who asked for clearance to a lower altitude could not get it fast enough. My heart goes out to their family.
I think that anyone who routinely flies above 12,000 should have to participate in such training. As a crew chief, I didn't expect to fly above 12,000 AGL ever (and even on a cross country to Alameda NAS, I don't think we even got that high).
The recent events of the past couple of weeks with pilots having issues that appear to be oxygen deprivation, it shows that it can happen to anyone at any time. Sadly, the one pilot who asked for clearance to a lower altitude could not get it fast enough. My heart goes out to their family.
Been there, done that - way back in my USNaval Air days. We went through the altitude chamber as Flight Crew on WV2 "Willy Victor" before I reported for duty on Midway Island. I was one of the "lucky" ones who was chosen NOT to wear a mask for everyone else to watch what happens. They did not warn us about the effect of low pressure on internal organs - if you catch my drift. Things got a little stinky in the chamber during the exercise. Coordination goes all to hell after a very short time at 15,000 feet without an oxygen mask...
Had to do the Alt chamber every 3 years it was always a blast