Oxygen failure ends world record attempt early

[nzompilot]

Emergency landing part of the fun
Emma Dangerfield - The Marlborough Express | Tuesday, 30 September 2008

A glider pilot's world record attempt ended sooner than expected when he landed in Kaikoura on Saturday after his oxygen began to fail.

Nick Reekie, originally from Southland, was trying to break the world record for a 500km out and return trip in a glider. The target was to complete the distance in less than two hours 20 minutes.

He left Lake Tekapo on the Saturday lunchtime in his German-built 525kg glider and had planned to be back home in Kirwee in time for tea. But he hadn't anticipated the problems on the return leg.

"I had got to my turning point in the Nelson Lakes and was on my way back when my oxygen started failing. I had to go into emergency descent. At 10,000 feet I realised I could get further south, but there was rain and bad weather down near Christchurch so I decided at around 7000 feet to land in Kaikoura."

An experienced glider pilot with 15 years flying experience, Nick knew he was never in any real danger as he always errs on the side of caution.

"I knew where I was heading and I knew I had plenty of time to get my landing right, so I went out over the sea to do a spot of whale watching. I didn't see any whales, but I did get to check out a pod of dolphins."

Nick has competed in national championships and just loves the thrill of gliding. He has a strong sense of adventure and firmly believes in having fun and testing himself. However, he had never before experienced such a great ride on a norwest arch. "It was so smooth just like riding a barrel. I was flying along at 400kmh and kept expecting a hostess to turn up with a trolley! It really is as smooth as it looks from the ground. Awesome!"

Despite Nick's early landing and the fact that his mates had to drive from Kirwee to retrieve him, he says he will definitely be attempting the world record again. He says even having to stop in unexpected places makes it interesting. "It's all part of the adventure and makes for great stories."

www.stuff.co.nz/marlboroughexpress/4711061a6008.html

[FlyNavy]

What height would this chap get to in the record attempt (guess is OK - I have no idea)? Sounds like a sensible chap. Glad it worked out OK.

[flyjoe180]

I guess they go as high as they need to in order to catch the mountain waves and favourable upper air currents. When you consider that Fossett got to 50,000-odd feet for an altitude record, it seems gliders can reach extreme altitudes when conditions are right.

[FlyNavy]

I presume this is an unpressurised cockpit glider so anything above about 20,000 feet starts to get dangerous without any supplementary oxygen under pressure. Above 35,000 feet (cabin pressure same) I believe one needs a pressure suit. Fossett must have had either or both? [My numbers may not be exact but in ball park.] Google will have the details.

[Bruce]

Fossett managed to acquire a couple of Russian space suits and oxygen generators (use liquid O2) when he went for his altitude record. Gliders certainly can reach amazing altitudes when they arent limited by engine power! It gets really cold at FL20 and above and no heaters onboard - definitely need the thermal undies....

[FlyNavy]

Yeah, forgot about the cold. ;D

[Bruce]

It was cold enough in the CityJet Bandit freighters at 10000 with no heat in the jumpseat area due to the cargo liner - Just about froze coming back Wellington - Auckland one night (Made worse by wearing summer clothes and getting caught in a rain shower whilst loading) - I wondered why the crew always had ski Jackets!

[flyjoe180]

10,000ft? Man, try 15 or 16,000ft with no heater for the same reason. Why the designers put the heat sensors in the roof of the cabin area I will never know. Then again they could never have foreseen their lovely passenger commuter being turned into a truck. Interesting when the ice on the inside melts off the unheated portions of windshield on descent; try to avoid the drips and especially the crotch area, or be in for some interesting looks and comments from the freight handlers.

[conman]

Generally speaking on such a speed flight you would'nt normally go above 30,000 ft and would more likely work below 25,000 , at those heights you suck alot of oxygen anyway, even at 25,000 ft you don't have a very long period of useful conciousness once your O2 fails (maybe 5min). A few years ago I climbed in blue wave to 25,000 over Mt Cook and I was only wearing shorts and tee shirt , but it was nice and toasty in the cockpit , until I opened the vent ! , (required after the canopy started to ice up), was using a canular pressure sensing O2 system and was paranoid about getting enough O2, it is quite intense light at 25,000 ft with just a thin layer of perspex between you and the atmosphere.

[sleemanj]

5 minutes seems optimistic at 25 thousand for an average person before they are impaired due to hypoxia. I couldn't find actual numbers in a googling, but my guess would be a minute.

Sure, people have climbed Everest (which is near 30 thousand) without Oxygen, but they have had months of training, acclimatisation, and even then it's a slow, painful, stumbling process where they don't even have enough oxygen to speak to each other.

[FlyNavy]

www.aopa.org/asf/asfarticles/2001/sp0110.html

"The "best" part of the ride is experiencing severe hypoxia. A University of North Dakota aviation student and the instructor were my companions this day as we climbed at 3,000 feet per minute up to 25,000 feet on oxygen. When the chamber stabilized at FL250 the instructor asked us to remove our masks and perform some simple tasks. Studying other people as they get hypoxic is much more fun than going to a bar to watch drunks. They misbehave in similar ways and the results happen quickly—you don't have to buy several rounds or tip the bartender. By the way, overindulgence of alcohol results in histotoxic hypoxia, where the cells are poisoned by a lack of oxygen intake. There's a useful bit of drinking trivia.

Basic tasks quickly illustrate when a pilot is losing it. The time of useful consciousness or effective performance time is defined as "the time from loss of sufficient oxygen until the subject is no longer able to perform the task in a safe or efficient manner." At 25,000 feet this is estimated at three to five minute."

The estimate for 3 to 5 minutes for flying an aeroplane safely is probably ambitious to say the least. I would not describe that as a simple task but I guess it is always going to be an estimate.

NB In this event described the crew were well oxygenated before going into the extreme environment. If a glider pilot was losing oxygen or not being adequately oxygenated then the time of 'usefulness' without further oxygen in extreme will be less. It is an environment in flight that should not be trifled with at all. IF no oxy then get to below safe altitude (apparently 12,000 feet is OK today).

[FlyNavy]

books.google.com/books?id=m5V04SXE4zQC&pg=PT298&lpg=PT298&dq=Useful+consciousness+without+oxygen+at+25,000+feet&source=web&ots=iYUj5u3Jof&sig=SW8ZzIbHcwRpUY3-wmgfsAQwcyQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPT298,M1



GEEZ, that LONG URL is good. Here is the plain text version:
"Time of Useful Consciousness
This is the time available to an aircrew member to recognize they are suffering from hypoxia and to take appropriate action (put on an oxygen mask and/or descend the aircraft below 10,000 feet).

The Time of Useful Consciousness is a function of altitude. At 20,000 feet, an average individual will have 5 to 12 minutes. At 25,000 feet, this time is reduced to 3 to 5 minutes. At 30,000 feet only 1 to 2 minutes are available. By 40,000 feet, the average individual will have only 9 to 15 seconds (basically this represents the oxygen that was in their system before the exposure to 40,000 feet)."

www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/oxygen.htm

[FlyNavy]

Anyway GOOGLE "Useful consciousness without oxygen at 25,000 feet" for heaps of hits. ;D

[conman]

Smokers would probably fall at the lower end of the scale ! I think there is a fair bit of variation from individual to individual as well. That time period is subject to being able to recognise that there is an issue occuring, using pulse oximetry to monitor your O2 saturation is a good idea especially at the higher altitudes, also once you get above about 30,000ft you need to use a pressurized O2 system to force the gas into your lungs which is'nt overly comfortable. It is amazing the falloff in TUC betwwen 20,000 and 25,000 ft.

[FlyNavy]

In Oz recently there was a "60 Minutes" TV story about a world record wingsuit distance/height jump record. The two were husband & wife with male being a hospital Emergency Room doctor. He was meticulous about the Oxygen preparations but at some absurd altitude in the balloon the doctor 'lost it'. He fell off - probably unconscious - as he was preparing to jump. Luckily at lower altitudes (falling rapidly) he recovered consciousness to activate parachute properly. Heart stopping stuff. No one needs to take risks with bad oxygen equipment or thinking that they will be OK at extreme altitudes - only if they want to sleep for a very, very, very long time.

My suggestion to anyone on this forum doing such high altitude things in gliders would be to educate themselves; and do appropriate high altitude aviation medicine courses in pressure chambers if possible. With lack of oxygen often there are no second chances. Many aviation accidents have been as a result of 'oxygen lack' at high altitude.

[conman]

Our club used to organise trips to the aviation medical unit at Hobsonville (awhile back) for hypoxia training, which was a fun experience, anyone planning to carry out high altitude wave flights was encouraged to undertake the course. When flying at Omarama I was amazed at the casual attitude by some towards the use of supplementary O2, the person I was flying with however gave a good briefing and suggested it was a good idea to turn the O2 on at a much lower altitude than was required in order to achieve good saturation, certainly worked for me as I felt 100% on returning to the airfield (although I was paranoid the whole flight checking to see if my fingertips were turning blue !)

[FlyNavy]

conman, no worries. A mil jet pilot will check cabin pressure frequently at high altitude. A slow leak to low pressure may not be that noticeable; compared to a sudden pressure loss for example. Luckily the A4G had full oxygen under pressure [which as someone has mentioned (you?) adjusting to the full flow when one opens one's mouth was something else] which had one 'talking under water' so to speak. One reason why jet pilot radio speech is terse and to the point. After a while apparently the RNZAF A4s changed to a different air/oxy mix through a different mask system which was much kinder to the lungs under G at low altitude. All that is by the by though.

Great to hear that you have put effort into understanding the oxygen issues for your high altitude flights. Are you not wearing gloves by the way? Check check and recheck. Only way to go. ;D And good luck. Yes getting as much oxygen into your lungs/system on the way up is important. Good idea.

[conman]

I had gloves but it was not that cold in the cockpit with full sun so did'nt wear them, feet did get abit cold however, the sudden canopy icing issue had me more concerned however, and I had a problem with exceeding altitude adjusted VNE trying to combat an 80kt headwing. It was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time and also trying to maintain a loose formation with another glider to complicate matters, I found that visability takes on a different dimension at high altitude with the sun so much more intense

[FlyNavy]

Mil Jet helmets had two visors - one clear and one dark green for that U/V problem at High Altitude particularly. Every photographer new to this intense high altitude light usually does not compensate for it. It sure is something else. Without glare protection the light can become painful - depending on other conditions such as reflected light from top of clouds etc. I gather you have an excellent pair of Glare Sunnies, probably Ski Goggles would be good also?

[conman]

The glider I was flying had a U/V tint which takes some of the hit, apart from that just wearing my prescription amber lens sunnies which takes some additional blue spectrum out. Did'nt get around to trying to take any photos, had passed through a serious layer of turbulence at 12-14 k and needed to stow everything (including the camera) securely, would have been a great day for some shots especially looking down on Mt Cook and the glaciers. Can only imagine what it is like in a U2 at 70k.