AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2015 - 99

Fly just 2,566 feet above the ground at
the Leadville, Colorado, airport, and you
are at 12,500 feet. Chances are you're going
to need to fly higher, given that Leadville
is in a valley with massive mountains on
either side. In fact, they are even named
massive, as in Mount Massive Wilderness.
Then the "it depends" argument begins.
Byron Peters, who works for oxygen system manufacturer Aerox in Limington,
Maine, thinks you should use supplemental
oxygen when above 8,000 feet, but worries that you'll think he is just trying to sell
oxygen bottles. Whether he is right or not
depends on you.
Let's say you are a pack-a-day smoker
taking a mild but approved medication-
which the Aeronautical Information
Manual (AIM) says can make your bloodoxygen concentration appear as though it is
thousands of feet higher-have a head cold,
and are experiencing stress. Some would
argue your system already thinks it is at
8,000 feet before you step into the pilot's
seat. Our AOPA Online page, "Oxygen Use
in Aviation," says a pack-a-day smoker's
blood-oxygen concentrations are already
at the 7,000-foot level, adding the smoker is
"physiologically hypoxic at sea level."
The AIM warns that while most people
experience a change in vision at 5,000 feet,
most health effects don't begin until 12,000
feet. The AIM follows that up with a suggestion that supplemental oxygen be used
at 10,000 feet during the day, and 5,000 feet
at night. You may be better than that, or not
as good. We can't all be endurance athletes
running in the 100-mile Leadville "Race
Across the Sky" each year. Even Leadville
airport technician Zach Dawson required
a month to get used to the higher altitude
after he moved there.
Let's say you decide to buy supplemental oxygen. What equipment do you need?
It depends. To start, I called Aerox and

Tips on oxygen bottle care

* Secure the bottles well so they
don't fall over or become projectiles.
* Don't keep oxygen bottles inside a
parked airplane or the trunk of a car
on a hot day.
* Store masks and cannulas out of
the sun.
* Make sure mask and regulator
connectors are compatible.
* Fill oxygen tanks slowly. Filling
them quickly generates heat,
dangerous pressure, and false
pressure readings.
-AKM
asked Peters how inexpensively I could
get a supplemental oxygen system. Peters
said their least expensive supplemental
system, holding six cubic feet of oxygen,
can be purchased for less than $500 and
provides 12 hours of oxygen. (Mountain
High has a $549 kit with six cubic feet of
oxygen that will last seven hours at 10,000
feet, and a handheld emergency three-canister non-refillable kit for $215 that will last
30 minutes per canister.) That company
also sells an emergency system providing
only 20 to 25 minutes of oxygen, enough
time to descend to a safer altitude, starting
at $302. Oxygen systems must be inspected
every five years, costing $60 to $85.
Peters said a nasal cannula saves oxygen and increases duration. Cannulas are
approved for use only up to 18,000 feet.
Above that altitude, there is too great a risk
of dangerously low blood oxygen saturation levels if the pilot breathes through the
mouth or talks too much. You'll need a mask
with much greater oxygen flow, one that
could empty my little $462 bottle in minutes.
My first statement to Peters should
have been that the service ceiling of the
aircraft I most often fly is 18,000 feet or
less. That would have told him whether
I could use the constant-flow system
he priced for me. That's a tip I got from
Phoebe, The Oxygen Lady.

Symptoms of hypoxia

The most dangerous symptom of hypoxia is a sense of false security that can prevent
you from reacting quickly. Others include nausea, apprehension, tunnel vision, headaches, fatigue, dizziness, blurred vision, tingling sensations, numbness, and mental
confusion. You also may have an increased breathing rate and fatigue.
-AKM
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 99

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2015

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