REFLECTOR: Flying High

[John Dibble]

That's a good point.  When you fly through smoke, there's no place to go
to get out of it and O2 would be a good way to get some fresh air.

John

Al Gietzen wrote:

>     Each person's reaction to oxygen depravation "can" be different.
>
> And different under different conditions.  I think Jorge mentioned the
> effect of stress.  When living on the far north coast of CA (yep, sea
> level), I would routinely fly at 9,500 or 10,500 ft over the mountains
> of northern CA and southern OR; never experiencing any symptoms of
> lack of O2, or even considering it.  On one occasion at 10,500 I found
> myself in smoke from major forest fires.  I was flying VFR, and not
> able pick up a VOR.  No visible terrain.  I was stressed.  I was
> getting a headache.  I proceeded by dead reckoning to Klamath Falls,
> not sure if I was going to find it, and it was a place I had never
> previously landed (continued stress).  Came out of the smoke, found
> myself close to KLMT, descended to pattern altitude (still over 5000
> ft) and made a very poor landing (mis-judged how far the wheels were
> off the runway as the stall horn started sounding, and the left wing
> dropped).  Fortunately didn’t bend anything, but felt weak and shaky
> as I stepped from the airplane, and wondered what was going on.
>
> Realized later that it was more than just relative inexperience, but
> likely was some degree of hypoxia.  And I was younger then.  I’m
> planning an O2 system in my Velocity.
>
> Al
>
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