Some strange logic there, Checkboard...

It's really thin over there, military types had to use O2 above 10,000 day, 5,000 night, maybe all we twenty something year olds were just so unfit, though during instrument training some didn't wear the uncomfortable oxygen mask when going up to 20,000, perhaps we were fit after all, not recommended. What the average human can expect.

https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/...20.2C000_ft.29

Isn’t the usual cabin altitude for a passenger jet around 8,000’? That includes the chunk that encapsulates the pilots.

What’s the point in comparing civvy pilots in civvy operations with military pilots in military operations? If you reckon the latter operations bear much semblance with the former, maybe a reality check is required.

Having flown around PNG above 10,000 for long periods of time and not being on the Mickie gas, it never effected me. Even had an ex Chief Pilot who done a check flight on me at 18,000 ft without oxygen in a Twin Otter to determine if I was susceptible to hypoxia! I passed the test😀

What sort of check flight was that? Was the ex Chief Pilot on oxygen?

The Chief Pilot was a unique character and he is no longer alive. PNG is the land of the unexpected….

It’s also not uncommon for unpressurised aircraft to be operating at 14,000ft or above in PNG due to the high LSALTs and grid heights throughout the highlands. All the aircraft that I flew had supplemental oxygen and I carried my own mask, however most pilots seldom used the oxygen as they weren’t above 10,000ft for long periods of time.

Unique country, with its unique operational challenges that most pilots wouldn’t understand if they hadn’t flown in the country.

Leadie, it may have escaped your notice that both operate in the same medium and are subject to the same laws of physics, perhaps a reality check is required.

One ex PNG MAF chap told the story of being trapped in a valley in a C206 and having to climb to 20,000 to get on top, no idea of a 206's capabilities, perhaps too many pints.

Service ceiling on the Turbo Stationaire is 26,000' ....

Certainly was the case in my all-too-short time in that place!

Still remember sitting at 16,500' in an A mod C402 for about two and a half hours on one trip. The a/c did have an O2 bottle but it was empty! And I had previously asked for it to be refilled.

Landed back at Moresby with an 'altitude headache'.

Although each activity occurred in the same medium and was subject to the same laws of physics, my first hand experience is that the pilot who flew me through the sound barrier and gave me tunnel vision on the way to 9 ‘gs’ in various air-to-air combat manoeuvres in a RAAF fighter jet was under a little more ‘stress and strain’ than the bloke sipping coffee at the front of my Generic Airways Flight 737.

Genuine question: why did he have to climb to 20,000 when the highest mountain in PNG is less than 15,000? Do you mean to get on top of clouds?

9 g? the limit is 7.5. Your F-18 chap had a way to go to approach the stress and strain of we Huey chaps who never got above 1,500', or faster than 100 knots, being shot up in a ambush suffering 75% casualties to the troops as they disembarked, having a crewman rolling around on the deck screaming from being shot in the back and neck and being shot yourself in the back between the shoulder blades, praise be to armored seats. Mind you, there are many, many airline crews who know full well the meaning of stress and strain, as do peddlers of any aviation contrivance.Yes, sorry if you didn't understand the terminology, as I said.

Thanks. I understand the terminology very well. Hence my question.