Good Morning—Today we continue with our series on Explosive Decompression but what we are going to talk about is something that occurs in a less dramatic fashion – Hypoxia. In addition to the video I have on Hypoxia there is also one on “Spatial Disorientation” which I have included because of operations in and out of high altitude airports.
I have made reference to the fact before that I have a lot of time operating out of places like La Paz, Bolivia, Quito, Ecuador, and numerous others. Things change in this environment. For example: In La Paz I always landed, and made the take-off, on 100% oxygen. This was also done at other locations and other special precautions were observed when performing off-airport operations above 5000 feet to avoid some of the problems referenced in the second video.
Enjoy the videos, click on the links after the videos to view a few special reports that you may find of interest, and join me tomorrow when we will wrap up our series by going back to the very beginning of the problem now known as, Explosive Decompression.
Robert Novell
January 23, 2014