Roland, When I researched the question a few years back
(whilst planning to fly to Australia at 10,000ft - which
was abandoned in the end) the Mountain High system seemed
the clear best bet. It is not cheap but you can (at least
in this country) hire them or possibly borrow one from a
gliding friend. If you are just planning to fly through
the Alps then none of the passes are significantly more
than 10,000ft and you can get away without oxygen. I ski
comfortably at 10,000ft along with several friends the
wrong side of 70. Historically lots of glider pilots have
been up to 17,000ft without oxygen and only a few of them
fell out of the sky!
One thing I would reccomend is a pulse oximeter
which can be bought online for 50 euros or less and can
give you some way of checking you are not going hypoxic,
although speaking as a doctor, knowing quite what % oxygen
saturation to accept is not easy! None of my anaesthetic
friends who use them all the time could give me a sensible
answer about what level is acceptable & compatible with
normal brain function in a conscious healthy person. I had
planned an experimental sortie going up with another pilot
with him using oxygen and me not to record oxygen
saturation, mental agility and flying correctness at
various density altitudes, and also checking whether
things deteriorated when staying at the same altitude for
a length of time. My Oz trip was abandoned before I got to
that - a pity really!
Regards, David Joyce, G-XSDJ
"Roland" <schmidtroland@web.de> wrote:
><schmidtroland@web.de>
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm planning for a trip to the Alps this summer and go
>up there to about 15.000 ft. I wonder about the necessity
>to use oxygen. Is there anyone who regularly flies high
>altitude and which system do you use? I'm thinking about
>the Mountain High O2D2 with cannulas which is also quite
>popular in the sailplane community. There are also little
>emergency oxygen cans available but their intended use is
>for an emergency descent in case of a malfunction in the
>O2-system.
>
> I've heard of some who fly even at FL 200 without O2,
>but also heard of few who cannot share their experiences
>about that
>
> I know the rules and wouldn't encourage anyone to break
>them. I only want to assess risks and maybe get tips
>about O2-systems.
>
> Btw: I'm a nonesmoker.
>
> Thanks
> Roland
>
> XS Trigear 914
> PH-ZTI
>
>
>
>
> Read this topic online here:
>
> http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=398494#398494
>
>
>
>
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