Licensing, Health & Safety #

Health #

Required for flying:

Hypoxic hypoxia: Normal effect of altitude and avoided by use of on board oxygen. Occurs from positive G forces and makes it unable to keep blood pumped to the head. G tolerance is lowered by ill health, low blood pressure, obesity, fatigue, etc.
Anaemic hypoxia: Over abundance of carbon monoxide
5k ft: affects diminished night vision, instruments and charts are misread, etc.
10k ft: undetectable, but after hours can produce deteriotation in concentration, problem solving and efficiency
14k ft: Dimming of vision, tremors, clouding of thought and memory, errors in judgement, cyanosis (blue discolouring of fingernails)
16k ft: becomes disoriented, belligerent or euphoric, completely lacking rational judgement
18k ft: primary shock usually sets in
Canadian regulations rule that an aircraft should not be operated more than 30 mins between 10-13k ft unless oxygen readily available for each crew member
Oxygen above 10ft by day, above 5k at night

Symptoms of deterioration:

Grey-out: Vision becomes dim and colourless
Black-out: Temp loss of vision
Red-out: Negative G forces increase blood pressure in eyes and cause rupture of small blood vessels.

G tolerance affected by diet, requiring adequete hydration and normal blood sugar, physical condition.

Could be caused by crack in cabin heating system letting gas to enter the cockpit

Symptoms of increased headache, throbble in temple, ringing in the ears, dizziness, etc.

What you should immediatley do:

Increased breathing, make a conscious effort to breathe slower.

Trapped gases in ear / ear block
Use the “valsalva technique” which is close the mouth and nose and blow gently. Forcing air up the eustachian tubes and clear it out