Fuel contamination and other basic survival instincts

"buttman" wrote in message
ps.com...
The odds of someone filling your O2 tanks with air instead of O2 is
just as deadly and just as likley to happen as someone putting Drain-O
on your sandwitch instead of mustard at a Subway restraunt. Well, maybe
not as likley, but you get the idea. Some things in life you just have
to risk. Thats not to say fuel sumps need not be checked, or simple
inspections shouldn't be made, but there exists a line which seperates
reasonable precautions and insanity.

I'm aware of a story similar to what the original poster mentioned regarding
filling an 02 tank with regular compressed air. It was a C-337 on a
photography mission. The passenger (who was in the back, ready to shoot
photos) passed out at ~20k ft, and the pilot lost consciousness somewhat
higher. The airplane departed from controlled flight, and came apart on the
way down. The wings, tail, etc. came down miles from the fuselage. The
fuselage came down in a tree, killing the pilot. When the fire department
came to pull the body out of the aircraft, the passenger woke up and climbed
down the ladder with the firemen with minor injuries.

True story. I have met the NTSB guy who was the lead investigator. He
indicated that the FBO had been filling O2 tanks with regular compressed air
for a lengthy time. They had to notify the FBO's recent O2 customers on an
emergency basis to let them know that their oxygen tanks needed to be purged
and re-filled.

A very interesting tale which goes to show that there are many, many ways to
die quickly in an airplane. Some of them unforseen.

KB