O2 filling

Airbus wrote:
A bit O.T. :
I read an accident report a few years back - an FBO in Europe re-filled an
O2 bottle with compressed air. In the ensuing high-altitude flight, the
pilot lost conciousness and the airplane crashed in the mountains. A
passenger, miraculously, survived and confirmed the cause of the crash due
to the pilot's unconciousness.

What I've wondered ever since I read it :
What would the FBO be doing with compressed air in the first place, and how
could this confusion occur? What *could* they have been thinking?


This would be complete negligence had this happened in the US - with the
standards in place.

The fittings in the US are spec'd by the Compressed Gas Association
(CGA) for different gasses and gas mixes. Oxygen gets a different
fitting than Compressed Breathing Air, which gets different fittings
than Argon, Nitrogen, CO2.. etc.

The only way this could have happened is if 1) the oxygen tanks were
mis-filled with air at the vendor (an adapter would have been needed) or
2) someone adapted an air bottle to an oxygen fitting.

When the threads or the nipple dont line up properly, its a big red flag.

In article , says...


Airbus wrote:
A bit O.T. :
I read an accident report a few years back - an FBO in Europe re-filled an
O2 bottle with compressed air. In the ensuing high-altitude flight, the
pilot lost conciousness and the airplane crashed in the mountains. A
passenger, miraculously, survived and confirmed the cause of the crash due
to the pilot's unconciousness.

What I've wondered ever since I read it :
What would the FBO be doing with compressed air in the first place, and how
could this confusion occur? What *could* they have been thinking?


This would be complete negligence had this happened in the US - with the
standards in place.

In any country . . .


The fittings in the US are spec'd by the Compressed Gas Association
(CGA) for different gasses and gas mixes. Oxygen gets a different
fitting than Compressed Breathing Air, which gets different fittings
than Argon, Nitrogen, CO2.. etc.

The only way this could have happened is if 1) the oxygen tanks were
mis-filled with air at the vendor (an adapter would have been needed) or
2) someone adapted an air bottle to an oxygen fitting.

When the threads or the nipple dont line up properly, its a big red flag.