The Chamber is now out of commission Rob Moore
On 08/07/2012, at 10:54 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi All, > In the "good old days" I did a couple of runs in the RAAF hypobaric chamber > at Pt Cook, with another nineteen glider pilots. This chamber was much later > relocated to Edinburgh SA airforce base, and as far as I know is still in > use there today, by the military. > > As Ian says, it was an Aviation Medicine Day, with the chamber run being just > part of the total experience. The basic scenario involved twenty glider > pilots, divided into two groups of ten - 10 being the capacity of the > chamber. One group did the chamber run, whilst the other group was given the > essential theory - and more.Then we swapped. > > Yeah, a run to about 23,000' (RAAF normal for ab initios??), is what > happened on both occasions. Just like Goldilocks and the 3 bears - not too > much and not too little. You are in the danger zone, but there is room to > react, if the s**t is hitting the fan. Google "time of useful consciousness" > to get an understanding of this subject. The chamber can of course simulate > conditions to a much greater height than that - possibly to the upper edge > of the atmosphere and beyond: The details are lost in the mists of time, but > maybe we just did not ask the right questions for those details (see point 2 > below). Apart from these two matters, several things about my two days at Pt > Cook come to mind: > The TOTAL professionalism of the RAAF crew running the courses. > Their friendliness, and willingness to share information and further discuss > related matters.(We had to wait around for a while at the end of the day to > ensure that there were no unexpected negative after-effects resulting from > the chamber run.) > The sheer number of RAAF personnel required to conduct and monitor the > chamber run - labour intensive for sure. > On my 2nd run, how the team coped with one attendee, who started > hyperventilating in the chamber. > Lastly (but by no means least), experiencing the sound (from within the > highly insulated chamber), of the run-up of the engines powering the chamber > evacuation pumps. I can tell you that the hairs on the back of my neck stood > up as those engines wound up to a banshee scream. > For what it is worth, I will give you my conclusion from these experiences - > there is only one: WHEN IT COMES TO HIGH ALTITUDE FLYING, UNLESS YOU ARE > TOTALLY PREPARED, DON'T FUCK WITH DEATH. IF YOU ARE NOT TOTALLY PREPARED, > ULTIMATELY YOU WILL LOOSE. > > Geoff Vincent (who is a member of this forum), and an experienced wave flyer > has devoted considerable time to documenting what is required to be "totally > prepared", If you want to go wave flying, and are new to the game, I suggest > that you get in contact with Geoff - [email protected] > > Regarding glider pilots using the RAAF hypobaric chamber I offer the > following comment. The head of the AAF is a very experienced glider pilot, > and I suggest that our new president (Anita), gets in contact with him (Air > Marshall Geoff Brown), on this topic.However, I further suggest that you do > not hold your breath if you expect a positive outcome. > > Cheers, > > Gary > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Ian Mc Phee > To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. > Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2012 6:40 PM > Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] MORE: Hypoxia / chamber run video > > In the good old days Brad Edwards took a bus load group of us down to RAAF > Richmond for an aviation Medicine day and afternoon was a run in > decompression chamber and from memory we were taken to 23000ft and no way > could any of us complete the counting back by three ie given 100, 97, 94, > __,__ There is a well know audio of think F5 pilot having trouble closing > his canopy then finally takes off and no mater how hard controllers tried > they could not get him to move the Oxy regulators levers forward (giving him > 100% oxy) and he just went into subconsciousness to eventually crash. > > Gather the only serviceable decompression chambers are in NZ now. DAMEs > in AUS just experience mixed gasses these days. I think it is a shame at > least commercial pilots are not required to do a mixed gas run and that would > be more useful than the english test all new pilots must now do to get a PPL > and pay a contractor $100 for the 10min test. > > Ian M > > On 8 July 2012 09:35, Anthony Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > > ---- > Towards the end, the 'pilot' is unable to put his mask back on, not from > lack of motor control or lack of conciousness, but just from not caring. > ---- > > No from not caring. I still cared and wanted to put the mask back on. My > experience was the complete inability to get my brain from A to B. > > I heard the voice say "Number 3, put your mask back on". > > It took some time to remember that I was 'Number 3' - even though I thought > I was fine and was reacting OK. > > Then there was the fumbling with the mask and the few moments (actually > quite a few moments) staring at it whilst I tried to work out which way was > up on the mask and how to get it onto my face - even though I thought I was > fine and was reacting OK. > > Once the mask was on, the tunnel vision disappeared (hadn't realized that I > had tunnel vision) and all the colours came flooding back (hadn't realized > that the world had gone black and white either). > > I would not have believed anyone afterwards when they told that it took so > long for me to think and react, except I saw the second group in the chamber > behave in exactly the same way. > > A remarkable experience and the results are somewhat similar to a long > drinking session. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2012.0.2178 / Virus Database: 2437/5117 - Release Date: 07/07/12 > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
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