Originally Posted by
CaptainEmad
Hypoxia is nasty and extremely insidious.
I have experienced it in a chamber. After spending 2 mins off Oxygen trying to fill in a worksheet, I only managed to make a start on my name at the top.
The first two letters of my name.
Apart from a big grin, I wasnt aware of any problem.
And this paralysis occured after a rapid decompression from 8000 to only F250.
Quite. Of course in the bang chamber you know it's going to happen. If it is not a rapid decompression, is no bang, no vapour, not sudden temperature drop, but a quick decompression you may not be as aware that you have decompressed until too late. Cabin pressurisation OFF even by accident?
We experienced this once when the PNF reacted wrongly to the checklist. He should have been switching fuel tank pressurisation and gave the response "No Pressure" which we recognised immediately was cabin pressurisation and not the response "Off" that we had expected. We decompressed but slowly.
Personally I am lucky; I feel sick before I become hypoxic.