All Our Club currently fits our gliders with copper tubing for the oxygen system plumbing before we head off to the annual wave camp at Bunyan (Canberra GC). This stuff seems prone to work hardening, and prone to accidental damage because of the limited space in a cockpit, particularly when wearing winter woollies for high altitude flights, or from people who aren't oxygen-savvy. Hence we remove it pronto after the gliders return from camp.
The fitting and removing of the copper tubing in itself poses the risks of damage. It also costs us money to have it fitted and removed carefully each time. Ideally we should be retaining oxygen systems for use at the summer XC camp when thermals go above 10,000 ft (the legal height above which CARs require oxygen to be carried and used), and perhaps leaving them plumbed but minus the bottle itself for the entire year (and ready to go at a moment's notice after a brief inspection). I know Canberra GC have some sort of flexible hoses fitted permanently in their Puchacz's - can someone from Canberra who is on this list provide details ? Is this low pressure with the regulator fitted on the oxy bottle itself ? Or is the tubing high pressure ? What is it's service life ? Are there any problems or disadvantages with this setup ? How costly is it ? Who can install this stuff ? If anyone out there from other clubs has their own opinion about oxygen setups, I'd be pleased to hear from you too, answering similar questions to those posed above. Ditto for anyone else who uses a copper tube system for their oxygen setup. Thanks in advance Jason Armistead Southern Cross GC Camden NSW -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
