Flying across Greenland - oxygen??!!

[Sam Rutherford]

Light single, non-pressurised - anyone have any feedback about altitudes and oxygen use? Route is eastbound, direct Sondre Stromfjord-Kulusuk.

Thanks! Sam.

[Mariner9]

Suggest you ask Timothy over on Flyer forum, who's just back from a trip to the N Pole via Greenland

[mm_flynn]

Light single, non-pressurised - anyone have any feedback about altitudes and oxygen use? Route is eastbound, direct Sondre Stromfjord-Kulusuk.

Thanks! Sam.

I think you will find FL130/FL140 will do it. Buy a portable O2 rig from one of the American suppliers and have it shipped to where you are collecting the plane (might as well add in a couple of extra life jackets, all of the charts you need in the US, PLB, pulsoximeter, some Bose headsets, a portable GPS, maybe some clothes and all of the other things that are half the UK price over there!).

When I came across it was at FL140 and was convenient to have the flexibility to be at this level, or higher if needed. However, my accompanying pilot (PAX on this leg) did not use the O2 and seemed fine.

[vanHorck]

I have no experience over greenland but i do with oxygen, and at FL130/140 you re best with a pulse system such as Mountain High. It only releases a pulse of oxygen every time you breathe in rather than a continuous flow and works a treat. The great benefit is you have plenty of O2 endurance in a small bottle.

O2 Mountain High is sold at Oxford in the UK

[S-Works]

It is also sold by me at much cheaper prices and with European spec cylinders!

[mm_flynn]

It is also sold by me at much cheaper prices and with European spec cylinders!
True, but a bit of a hassle to take with you on the commercial jet over to the states and then get the European Spec cylinder filled over there.

[IO540]

Best place to buy MH stuff is from MH in the USA who sell direct.

I have just bought one of their carbon fibre wrapped bottles, a big fat mama at 48 cu ft @ 150 bar, for USD 650.

This bottle comes with a 540 valve and a pressure gauge on the valve, so you can see how much gas is inside without having to screw the first stage regulator on it (very handy).

I've done extensive comparison tests of o2 systems, at FL180 so far but with a FL120 one planned, and indeed the MH system comes out tops on gas usage, by a factor of about 3x over the other demand regulator on the market (Nelson precise Flow). SR - you have email. However, there are certain downsides to the MH system: the requirement for electrical power
for the demand reg (it fails SHUT) and the rather abrupt pressure pulses which may irritate some noses (though I am sure most GA noses have plenty large enough apertures from years of picking up and spreading airfield gossip).

As regards FL140 without o2, I am sure this will work for some people for an hour or two but I am sure most people will soon be unable to do anything useful. I have flown with a pilot who could not read the altimeter after an hour at FL120 - he was fine within seconds of going on o2.

Pilots who fly these trips without o2 are just chucking away their best weather avoidance option: VMC on top. At the best of times, they arrive very tired...

[QDMQDMQDM]

Just change the altitude in this calculator:

http://www.altitude.org/calculators/oxygencalculator/oxygencalculator.htm

At 14K feet, the arterial partial pressure of O2 is roughly half that of sea level. That is very low.

[S-Works]

Actually at 18,000ft it is roughly half the pressure. Mind you I go onto O2 at 10,000ft and above when flying unpressurised.

Very silly for anyone not to use O2 and as SoCal points out it is actually against the regs both FAA and CAA. CAA require O2 for greater than 10k and 30 mins. The FAA as Socal has shown.

[IO540]

Not in an N reg aircraft hopefullyFL120 is legal (FAA); FL140 would not be after 30 mins. He was a passenger anyway.

For me, any airways departure is a no-go unless I have enough oxygen to complete the flight at either FL160 or at the planned level, whichever is higher. This has caused me to waste a whole day looking after a bottle refill at Crete last year (being sent from a scuba shop to x to y to z and eventually ending up in an industrial gas factory) but I would never change this rule.

[mm_flynn]

When I came across it was at FL140 and was convenient to have the flexibility to be at this level, or higher if needed. However, my accompanying pilot did not use the O2 and seemed fine.

Presumably that 'pilot' was a passenger.

I was the pilot flying and on O2 from about 5000 ft as I didn't want to be faffing about getting rigged while climbing next to the fantastic mountain faces we were next to. The other guys is also a pilot, but on this leg was doing the hanging out, photography, and colour commentary that makes the flight that much more fun - but as far as I am aware is not a Required Crew Member ;)

Like IO, for IFR I always carry O2 - there is no point have an aircraft that will go into the American flight levels without the ability for your brain to stay working.