I fly to FL120 but no higher w/o oxygen for 2-3 hrs flights. But I will be very tired after the flight. I have done that in daylight only. I do carry a Pulse Oxymeter.
Aviathor wrote:
I do carry a Pulse Oxymeter.
How do you use it (as in, what do you do with the number it provides)
Above FL100, for any significant flight (2h+) I feel really tired.
If oxygen on board, i would use it as soon as FL80.
Oxymeter is important when flying high enough for saturation to become a problem, should oxygen supply fail.
Otherwise, I don’t see what it brings… but I could say the same thing about most medical tests in a more general sense.
Noe wrote:
How do you use it (as in, what do you do with the number it provides)
I wrote I carry it – not that I use it systematically. On O2 I want to see my saturation around or above 90% thereby confirming that I am getting oxygen and that it is being absorbed.
Without O2 I do not want to see it much below 85% – hence the FL120 limit.
Noe wrote:
How do you use it (as in, what do you do with the number it provides)
Values above 95% are normal.
Up to 92% it means you have reduced oxygen in your blood but should still function more or less ok.
Under 92% means either get on O2 right now or descend right now.
Lowest I’ve seen was around 92 % for me at 14’000 ft (shortly after TOC to overfly a restricted area) and about 91% 15 mins later. Afte descending below 10’000 ft values came right up again. I bought my Mountain High Oxygen set before the next longer flight. With it, the lowest I’ve seen was 96% at 17’000 ft (DA22’000 ft).
Mooney_Driver wrote:
Lowest I’ve seen was around 92 % for me at 14’000 ft
That reading doesn’t sound right, unless you have some exceptional O2 carrying capacity in your blood.
As for the original question:
- I don’t plan on going above 12k, but have been (and would be) going higher for short periods to get above wx or mountains
- no
- yes and use it to periodically check
I also carry portable O2 bottles to get a ‘boost’ if needed (rarely use them, though)
I carry and use a pulse oximeter, and I am fine up to FL130. I haven’t tried any higher without oxygen.
I have been up to FL250 on just cannula and I was fine, but my RHS’ oximeter dropped markedly and we descended.
…it is very individual, though. I spend 90 minutes a day in the gym, have not smoked since I was 17 and take an Iron supplement every day.
Others report feeling unwell at FL80, so you really need your own figures, not to ask others.
Timothy wrote:
…so you really need your own figures, not to ask others.
Yes. And when you are experimenting with that, take a second pilot with you – just in case. Personally I would not fly above FL100 without oxygen for longer than a few minutes.
When I was flying cargo on my last job in unpressurised aircraft (C 404) we sometimes ran short of our oxygen supply. When forced to fly higher (crossing the Alps and/or weather) we would take turns at using oxygen so that our tank would last for the entire flight. During those flights I spent (as pilot monitoring – or rather: pilot dozing) many hours between FL140 and FL180 without oxygen. Although I never passed out it made me feel really unwell and usually gave me a headache which lasted for some hours after the flight. Vision was impaired to a degree where one could only see black and white. I would certainly not have been able to do a decent job at flying the airplane…
