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Re: [Hypoxia/Life Support]
Let me relate a personal experience with hypoxia. I work at the Naval Air
Warfare Center at Pax River, MD (the old NATC). Back in '86 I was going for
my "selected passenger card" which would allow me to fly back seat in the
fighter jets and part of the qualification is a session in the high altitude
chamber. There were about six students and a couple of instructors in the
chamber. Everyone had an oxygen mask but only the instructors kept theirs on
throughout. They closed the door and started pumping the air out until we
reached a pressure equivalent to about 16,000 feet. Once "at altitude" the
instructors told us to remove our masks and to perform a set of rather
remedial tasks. I recall having to play patty-cake with the guy next to me.
Things were going great for about a minute and I remember thinking this is so
stupid, too easy, nothing I couldn't do without a little oxygen. Next thing I
remember, one of the instructors was putting my oxygen mask back on for me
because I'd been staring blankly for about ten seconds and wouldn't answer
their commands. I'd slipped into a state of blissful ambivalence about myself
or anything around me.
An earlier post mentioned that humans can sense CO2 but can not detect a lack
of O2. In a submarine environment I can see how easy it would be to get
yourself into a situation where hypoxia will slip up on you - and kill you
dead. Spend the money, get the sensors, live to see another day.
Danny
SJSVOB@aol.com wrote:
For those who are interested in life support systems I found an interesting
page on the effects of hypoxia, i.e. too little oxygen. The page was written
for skydivers jumping from 30,000 while using oxygen tanks. It talks about
obtaining the required physiological flight training. Which is essentially a
ride in a test chamber that has had the air pumped out of it. Apparantly
civilians can experience hypoxia and get checked out in the test chambers
normally used by military airmen. Perhaps this would be a good experience
for anyone operating a psub with a life support system? The webpage is
located at:
http://www.batnet.com/mfwright/mfwright/30Kprocess.html
I suggest reading the section in there on "Jump Stories" which describes
accounts of an airman and jumpers experiencing hypoxia.
Steve
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