Flying at altitude
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Flying at altitude
I am sure there are quite a few of you out there that have had your experiences at altitude. Yeah we all know that you can breath but the oxygen is limited. What are some of your experiences with high (as in above 11,000 P.A.) that you can share with us. What was your indication of oncoming altitude sickness or dizziness and how did you cope?
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Operating in the hover by night at around 10,000 amsl, no extra O2, observing a ground target.
Suddenly noticed the orange sodium street lights had become monochrome greys. Due to good (military) training, it was recognised as the onset of mild hypoxia. We remained on task at it was an important one, with a crew patter set up between us monitoring my performance to ensure there were no other effects. After a few minutes, job done, we descended and the effects quickly disappeared.
Suddenly noticed the orange sodium street lights had become monochrome greys. Due to good (military) training, it was recognised as the onset of mild hypoxia. We remained on task at it was an important one, with a crew patter set up between us monitoring my performance to ensure there were no other effects. After a few minutes, job done, we descended and the effects quickly disappeared.
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Never found altitude much of a problem from the body point of view although some helicopters didn't like it. In New Guinea we use to regularly land at altitudes up to 12000 and for kicks I did one at 14000 in Bell 47s and Hiller 1100s. In my stupid youth I was once persuaded by a senior pilot at night to see how high a twin engined Wessex would go. At 18500 my sphincter muscles decided it was time to come down! The rotor rpm was a problem as on lowering the lever, the rpm wanted to shoot up. But to answer your query, I never found operating up to 12000 a problem although I was young and quite fit then plus we lived at 5000. However the lack of puff was noticeable but I never experienced vision problems.
The Original Whirly
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Does being young and fit actually make a difference? I'm asking because when I went to Tibet I read a lot about the effects of altitude (living high, not flying high), and apparently you couldn't tell how anyone would react; some young fit people had really problems and had to descend, and vice versa. I know I was happily shopping in the market (hard to stop me shopping 
) and sprinting across roads on my first day in Lhasa, while some people half my age went to bed. Is flying different? Can you tell how people will react?
) and sprinting across roads on my first day in Lhasa, while some people half my age went to bed. Is flying different? Can you tell how people will react?
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Yes my dear, being fit (and possibly younger) has a great impact on your succeptability to hypoxia.
If you are a smoker, then you already "fly" at 5,000 feet, so to speak.
But you cannot tell who will have an adverse reaction to altitude prior to going up. The people who live longer at higher alt adapt, and typically, if their blood was compared to yours, you would find a greater concentration of red blood cells in theirs. Adaptation is wonderful eh?
I had a flight made at 10,000 from Bermuda back to Pax river, Md. Fun hop in the 130, but you could get tired easily going from one end of the aircraft to the other. and avoiding weather was a fun issue too (we had suffered a decompression earlier and the aircraft could not be pressurized, hence the flight back to 10K)
I loved the alt chamber when going thru training, fo it really does give you a demonstration If you have the ability to get to one to try high alt, explosive decompression, effects of hypoxia, that sort of thing, by all means, do try it!
If you are a smoker, then you already "fly" at 5,000 feet, so to speak.
But you cannot tell who will have an adverse reaction to altitude prior to going up. The people who live longer at higher alt adapt, and typically, if their blood was compared to yours, you would find a greater concentration of red blood cells in theirs. Adaptation is wonderful eh?
I had a flight made at 10,000 from Bermuda back to Pax river, Md. Fun hop in the 130, but you could get tired easily going from one end of the aircraft to the other. and avoiding weather was a fun issue too (we had suffered a decompression earlier and the aircraft could not be pressurized, hence the flight back to 10K)
I loved the alt chamber when going thru training, fo it really does give you a demonstration
If you have the ability to get to one to try high alt, explosive decompression, effects of hypoxia, that sort of thing, by all means, do try it!
Last edited by RW-1; 7th May 2002 at 16:08.
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On landing near the top of My Kenya (somewhere around 12000' I think) I handed control over to the QHI who was teaching me mountain flying techniques and jogged about 20 metres to do the tourist thing with my camera. With great artistic flair I managed to capture a shot of the Gazelle with a snow capped peak in the background. Fantastic!
Well satisfied with my camera work, I jogged back to the machine, strapped in and immediately thought that I was going to die. Great black spots appeared before my saucer-like eyes and I had enormous difficulty breathing. The QHI (the great Ian Cornell) was also having difficulty breathing but only from laughing at my stupidity. I was a very fit 27 year old at the time and it taught me respect for hypoxia.
Well satisfied with my camera work, I jogged back to the machine, strapped in and immediately thought that I was going to die. Great black spots appeared before my saucer-like eyes and I had enormous difficulty breathing. The QHI (the great Ian Cornell) was also having difficulty breathing but only from laughing at my stupidity. I was a very fit 27 year old at the time and it taught me respect for hypoxia.
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When I got hypoxic I was young and pretty fit. At that time I used to jog about 5 miles almost every day
So I'm sure I would be more resistant to it these days (Cough, cough)
So I'm sure I would be more resistant to it these days (Cough, cough)
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From "Travellers' Health": "High Altitude", by Dr John Dickenson, Medical Superintendent of Patan Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal:
Where does the risk of mountain sickness begin? This is a hard question to answer, because people vary so much in their susceptibility. The disease is well known in skiers at 8000 ft in the USA, and fatalities have occurred below 10,000 ft. Generally, however, in Nepal most of our patients have become ill between 12,000 and 14,000 ft...Speed of ascent is a greater risk factor than the absolute altitude reached...People below the age of 20 and above the age of 40 have been more severely affected than the 20-40 age group in some studies...There is no significant difference in risk between males and females.
(Concerning Malignant Acute Mountain Sickness)...One experienced Alpine guide, unused to Himalayan altitudes, was evacuated with malignant AMS in two successive seasons. Others have also had multiple attacks, but some seem never to be affected and we await a good explanation for these differences in susceptibility.
Where does the risk of mountain sickness begin? This is a hard question to answer, because people vary so much in their susceptibility. The disease is well known in skiers at 8000 ft in the USA, and fatalities have occurred below 10,000 ft. Generally, however, in Nepal most of our patients have become ill between 12,000 and 14,000 ft...Speed of ascent is a greater risk factor than the absolute altitude reached...People below the age of 20 and above the age of 40 have been more severely affected than the 20-40 age group in some studies...There is no significant difference in risk between males and females.
(Concerning Malignant Acute Mountain Sickness)...One experienced Alpine guide, unused to Himalayan altitudes, was evacuated with malignant AMS in two successive seasons. Others have also had multiple attacks, but some seem never to be affected and we await a good explanation for these differences in susceptibility.
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What the hell are you lot doing all the way up there ? I always thought helicopters were more adapted and built for low level stuff.
I'm afraid of heights anyway!
Can you imagine how you would feel if you were into mild hypoxia and then having to pull G? Oh dear.
I'm afraid of heights anyway!
Can you imagine how you would feel if you were into mild hypoxia and then having to pull G? Oh dear.
