REFLECTOR: Flying High

[Richard Riley]

At 07:55 AM 5/14/05, you wrote:
>     Each person's reaction to oxygen depravation "can" be different. 
> There is a list of symptoms such as headache, nausea, giggles, and all 
> the other things that Jorge mentioned.

Absolutely.

I went through the chamber at Edwards before they closed it.  I was in 
amazingly good shape at altitude - kept up conversation, did math problems, 
said tongue twisters.  But my peripheral vision was gone.  I had about a 40 
degree field of view, everything else was red/black.  Of course, other 
things deteriorated with time, but that was my first significant 
symptom.  I'm kind of lucky, it's an easy one to recognize.

I turn on my O2 system (electronic metered), and set it to night, at 5000 
feet.  I'm refilling from a welding tank so it costs pennies, and after a 
flight I just feel better.  It also means I don't think twice about going 
to 15 or 17k, to get above turbulence.