Use of oxygen when one pilot is on break
 

I am interested to know how many countries mandate the donning of oxygen masks by pilots left alone in the flight deck while in cruise.

the FAA is the only aithority I have seen that require this practice, interested to know what happens in Europe?

Specifically talking about quick donning masks as installed in the Airbus for example.

Not just the FAA, but is regulatory practice in most ICAO states. If one pilot is outside the FD above FL350 the other should be on oxygen.

Not in EASA land.

Never even heard of it to be honest.

Not in Australia.

Really, phantom? Where?

I believe the FAA rule is +FL350. Use to be FL250

As if "two persons in cockpit at all times" rule is not enough, you want us to be putting oxygen masks on as well?

How many cases have included rapid decompression with only one pilot in the cockpit?

How many cases have included rapid decompression with only one pilot in the cockpit?

How many do you need? With all of the dumb causes for accidents over the last ten+ years this sounds pretty reasonable. TOUC above FL300 is pretty small as I recall.

Not in the UK. I can't imagine the germs that must collect in those things. I assumed they don't get cleaned between every crew.

TOUC for the average adult:
FL300 - 1 minute
FL350 - 45 seconds
FL400 - 15 seconds

Allowing 5 seconds for the startle effect and a further 5 seconds to don the oxygen mask, I think there is plenty of time when using quick donning masks.

Skor:

At my employer (U.S.) we had a supply of wet alcohol wipes on the flight deck that had been approved by the company medical department. We carefully cleaned the mask when we originated or replaced another crew, and then tested it both for O2 flow and the mic.

Made sense to me.

I jump seated on a couple other major U.S. carriers who did not do such a test.

Never heard of that in Canada.

My new job is my 6th airline, all in different countries but my first in the US. Its been an eye opener how the FAA mandate certain things compared to others. Not as progressive as i expected.

Its the first time i have seen the use of oxy masks in flight (except for oz in the old days) and it appears to me that the masks are getting beaten up by constant use. Last week a crew had the hose come off the mask during removal and flailed all over the cockpit.

Excerpt from the relevant Australian Order, CAO 20.4.

If they get worn out by 'constant use' so be it, replace them.


They can save your life, I always give mine a thorough cleaning
on every preflight and use it when required.


Completely unsanitary and plain stupid not to do this, the last thing you
need is a mouth full of dust, crap and germs when you really need it.

The only airline I know for certain that does it is Omni (euro controller here), and that's only because the guy apologised to me for possible poor transmission quality (there was zero difference in his case).He obviously didn't realise I talk to Aeroflot and Turkish on a daily basis.

Apart from the above omni though I must say it's been very hard to understand what you folks are actually saying when you're on the oxy. Definitely worth bearing in mind if you're ever on it.

Was mandatory in my place till JAR came out. Since then, and with EASA, nope.

Compulsory to use O2 with only one pilot on flight deck in New Zealand above 35,000. Also if flying above 41,000 one pilot must be on O2.

Not required in HK.

It's still FL250 under part 121

However, whenever the aircraft is operating above flight level 450, the pilot, or one of the pilots, seated at the controls of the aircraft must wear an oxygen mask that is properly fitted and supplying oxygen

That would have meant that an N-reg Concorde PIC would have been on O2 for most of the flight.

Risk assessment in aviation always includes probability and severity. While the severity of rapid decompression is very high, probability of happening it exactly when one pilot is out of the cockpit is very high.

There has to be some common sense in aviation.

By all rights, if a rapid decompression occurred at altitudes above 50,000 ft, one would need a pressure suit to survive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_suit

The rule in FAA-land is F410 which does affect bizjet operators. We're trying to change it, but it doesn't effect the airlines, so the FAA isn't interested.

GF

So to confirm then....it is NOT regulatory practice in most ICAO states.

"Last week a crew had the hose come off the mask during removal and flailed all over the cockpit."

Sounds like a good reason to check functionality of the system out before you go flying. Pretty much SOP in the FAA Part 121 world. The full face masks as used by a number of airlines, are a little more difficult.

"Sounds like a good reason to check functionality of the system out before you go flying"

Interesting take on it.

I suspect the damage is being done by the constant removal and replacement of the masks. Chicken or egg?

oicur12.again

I think you may have a good point there. A certain Asian airline requires the masks to be tested and re-stowed before every flight by the flight crew. There have been countless occasions where the re-stowing was incorrectly carried out rendering the quick don function to be lost!

In my company we check the operation (flow and oxy rate etc) while still in its cubby, but don't physically remove it.

I pull mine out, clean it with a sanitizing swab, and put it on, check o2 flow and communications, then give it another wipe with the sanitizing swab and stow it. That way I know that if I need it, it's ready to go, o2 is there, the microphone is correctly connected and the hose is not in a snarl. I don't know how many times I've pulled it out and the mic is not connected correctly. In our airplanes the mic plugs into a small panel which is hard to see and hard to reach, consequently the mask mic plug often gets mistakenly plugged into the hand mic jack. Finding a ball of snarled hose is not uncommon. I once found the mask half full of frozen coffee.

I'm not going to say that these things happen all the time, but they're common enough that there's at least some chance that my quick donning mask isn't going to be quite so "quick donning" if I need it to be. So I preflight it.

The rule in FAA-land is F410 which does affect bizjet operators. We're trying to change it, but it doesn't effect the airlines, so the FAA isn't interested.

Oh yeh? Most private biz-jets most likely do what they like: or file FL410 as max.

To those who say the quite regularly deploy the O2 max and re-stow it; I salute you. It has never been a teaching point in nay of my TR courses. I learnt how to do it using initiative & an engineer. IMHO a quick poll of those who know how to re-stow an O2 mask would show a very small %. Surely, if there is a need to use and re-stow then crews should be instructed how to do so.

On the types i'm rated both flow and microphone can be tested while the mask is still stowed. And yes, we have to do that before the first of our flights of the day of course. But regularly taking the mask out and use it is not part of the normal test, and since we do not have to use it during normal operations re-stowing isn't trained, let the engineers handle that, it is part of their job. It is the same in the simulator. Use it, roughly place it close to its stow position and let the simulator engineers stow it after the session. My company pays for that after all.

So, because of incorrect re-stowing, the solution is to re-stow it every day?

I agree with Denti, let the engineers handle the re-stowing of the oxygen mask. As a pilot, your main duty is to stop the oxygen flow (usually by closing the left door and pressing the test/reset button) when you don't need the mask anymore and verifying it has indeed stopped.

CanadianAirbusPilot;
One carrier in Canada used to require it when one pilot left the FD. That same carrier now requires both pilots to wear O2 masks when above FL410 and the masks are the quick-donning type.

I suppose that I should clarify that I'm dealing with a little different setup than the Boeing and Airbus masks. The masks, together with the coiled hose is hung from the cockpit sidewall from a quick release loop, so everything is exposed and subject to getting knocked around by flight bags or the odd foot. And being out in the open the mask is subject to catching debris, such as the aforementioned spilled coffee. re-stowing the deal isn't really a maintenance procedure, more a matter of hanging the hose so the loops aren't twisted, and won't turn into a bird's nest if the mask is grabbed in a hurry. Although, apparently, some of my co-workers can;t figure that out out, or can't be bothered.

RAT 5

The problem is "doing what they like" cause normalization of deviation in ignoring the rule. Some stay at F410, some use oxygen above F410, some, no doubt ignore the rule as being out of date. The stats of high altitude loss of pressurization support changing the rule or deleting it entirely. The oxygen masks in a side wall cubby (Scott EROS) weren't designed for constant use and constantly being undone and restowed, hence the test function which doesn't require removing the mask.

GF

Here are some additional references.


Operators Press For Relief From Oxygen Mask Rule | NBAA2014 content from Aviation Week

Let's just hope none of you jokers ever have to use your mask because you won't even know if it's there or where it is.

So in response to the OP, we have USA and NZ only. Anywhere else?

Forgive my ignorance here as a controller, but a G5 driver told me a couple of years ago that if they depressurise and don't respond within a set time limit up in the FL400s the aircraft will deviate and descend off track automatically? And bang out an emergency ADS report for non radar environments advising of same? Is this, like ADS/CPDLC, fairly standard equipment on the latest biz jets?