Oximeter's

Marc,
Your experiment appears to confirm our thinking that we should be
oxygen when flying above 10K. In our last several long cross-country
trips, we flew at 9K and 10K approximately 3-4hrs stretches and did not
feel tired or any differences from flying at lower altitudes. Others
may need oxygen at lower elevation. I knew few heavy smokers with
limited lung capacity having to drag oxygen bottles along all day. Of
course the oximeter is a very useful device but oxygen supply is the
key to our health and safety. I'm not at all against the use of
oximeter but would certainly get O2 bottles before buying an oximeter.
Come to think of it, yawning is a pretty good oximeter too ;-)

Hai Longworth

Marc,

Your experiment seemed to confirm our thinkng that we would need
oxygen if flying over 10,000ft. Last July on our trip from NY to MI,
when ATC asked us to climb from 8K to 10K, we were a bit concerned but
was glad to see that our performance did not seem to suffer. In the
next 3 long x-country trips, we filed at 10K and 9K and taking turns
flying 3-4hrs stretches. Again, we never noticed any problems. Of
course, we tried to have plenty of water and food. Few years ago, in
our trip to Ecuador, we stayed at Quito, 10K elevation for several
days. The first night, we both had headaches from dehydration and had
to drink quite a few of the hotel $3.5 Evian bottles!

The levels which you monitored also in the range indicated in this
article
http://www.mountainflying.com/oxygen.htm

"The atmospheric pressure decrease at 10,000-foot altitude causes 523mm
Hg ambient air pressure resulting in 87 percent hemoglobin saturation
and 61mm Hg arterial oxygen."

"The body requires hemoglobin saturations of 87-97 percent and arterial
oxygen at 60-100mm Hg (millimeters of mercury) in order to function
normally. Below this level the body is hypoxic"

I'd expect that smokers or people with emphysema etc. may have lower
hemoglobin saturation at lower altitudes.

My thinking was that as long as we take precaution to use oxygen at
above 10K, we would not need to monitor our body oxygen level if we
remain healthy. Your experience and others convinced me that the
oximeter is a very useful device and may be worth getting. I still
plan to get the Oxygen supply first and will rely on yawning to monitor
our fatigue until there is a good sale on the oximeter ;-)

Hai Longworth

I'm not at all against the use of
oximeter but would certainly get O2 bottles before buying an oximeter.

I'd get the meter before buying the bottles. You may find by using the
meter that you don't need oxygen at the altitudes you do fly, and you
may find that you need more oxygen than you thought (because you need it
lower) and that would influence whether and what size oxygen to get.

And it just bugs me that the thread title is in the possessive.

Jose
--
He who laughs, lasts.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Just Deleteting the (') from the thread name.
:-)

"Jose" wrote in message
t...
I'm not at all against the use of
oximeter but would certainly get O2 bottles before buying an oximeter.

I'd get the meter before buying the bottles. You may find by using the
meter that you don't need oxygen at the altitudes you do fly, and you may
find that you need more oxygen than you thought (because you need it
lower) and that would influence whether and what size oxygen to get.

And it just bugs me that the thread title is in the possessive.

Jose
--
He who laughs, lasts.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

I'd be curious to see how many pilots use the oximeter while
using oxygen.

100% of the time.
---
Ken Reed
N960CM

Kyler Laird writes:


I reduced my wife's oxygen flow (because she was just resting anyway) but
when we crossed the Mississippi and she couldn't think of the word "barge" I
stuck her finger in the oximeter. She wasn't terribly low but she was lower
than usual so we increased her flow a bit.

Ed Gauss, the Alaska bush pilot, had another approach. His wife
would fall asleep without O2, and he liked the company. So she'd
play the harmonica -- that raised her respiration and kept them
both alert...
--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

100% of the time.

Ditto. Used it yesterday when above 10,000. When cleared to 15,000 w/ a
70kt tailwind, I went without worry.

And FWIW, I'd rather use it often and find the oximeter isn't working when
it isn't critical then get it repaired.
--

Thx, {|;-)

Victor J. (Jim) Osborne, Jr.

"Ken Reed" wrote in message
...
I'd be curious to see how many pilots use the oximeter while
using oxygen.

100% of the time.
---
Ken Reed
N960CM

Oxygen deprivation can be very insidious, and can worsen with time at
altitude. The symptoms of hypoxia also vary from individual to individual.
We had a recent experience of flying at 10,000 for several hours when my
son, who normally is a great passenger got very agitated and complained of a
headache. His O2 saturation was 83%, and mine was running at around 85. We
all put on the oxygen, and the headaches and fatigue went away, and for me,
my color vision improved tremendously.

I strongly recommend that any pilot go through an altitude chamber ride. It
is very informative and a great experience. More importantly, it well help
you recognize your individual symptoms of hypoxia.

Viperdoc wrote:
I strongly recommend that any pilot go through an altitude chamber ride.

I'll second that; really worth your time... I went to
Beale AFB and it was really educational (the ground
school part is quite intensive and was given by an
officer who flies U2 for a living);

you can read about it he

http://www.faa.gov/pilots/safety/pil...272005_web.pdf


--Sylvain