Greatest Altitude without pressure cabin/suit

"Gord Beaman" ) wrote in message . ..
"Dave Kearton" wrote:

"Gord Beaman" wrote in message
.. .
| "W. D. Allen Sr." wrote:
|
| 44,000 ft altitude means only about 1/7 of the atmospheric
| pressure at sea level. So it's hard to believe a person
| could maintain consciousness without oxygen pressure
| equipment to get to 49,500 feet.
|
| With half the atmosphere below 18,000 feet the U. S.
| military requires oxygen masks above 15,000 feet. And if I
| remember correctly they require full pressure suits above
| 50,000 feet altitude.
|
| WDA
|
|
| Well, I know for a fact that you can survive at 45,000 feet with
| only a 'demand' oxygen regulator connected to a regular oxygen
| mask as issued to the Canadian Military in the mid sixties in an
| aircraft with a 25,000ft service ceiling. That puts the cabin at
| ~30,000ft. Hell, we did a bunch of high altitude trials in an
| UNPRESSURIZED Fairchild C-119 at 25,000 for several hours at a
| time. But, of course, back then, men were men... harrumph...
| --
|
| -Gord.


Here's a few altitude pioneers that were climbing the skies way before the others:

http://www.afa.org/magazine/1991/0491pioneer.html

Rob

Gord,


While your manliness is above reproach, I'm not sure I see the relevance
of tests at 30,000' compared to 45,000, much less 49,500.


Breathing at that altitude must be like sucking meatloaf through a straw.



Cheers


Dave Kearton


You're quite right Dave, I only mentioned the 30 and 25k thing
because of the time at those heights. Some of us got a twinge of
the bends during those trials. Plus the 45k thing was an
extremely stupid trick. The slightest hiccup and the a/c would
have stalled, spun and likely disintegrated.