Altitude test to fly?

[Nervous1]

My blood oxygen levels are normal (usually around 98%) and I fly internationally quite often. Out of curiousity once I took a pulse oximeter with me.
<br />
<br />On the ground I was at my usual 98%. During the flight it went down to 92-93%, although I felt fine.
<br />
<br />So, if your boys have lung damage it certainly can't hurt to find out ahead of time what to expect during the flight.

 

[Jane]

Thanks everyone. We have an appointment on Monday for the test.

I had no idea that regular room air is about 20% oxygen. On a plane it is 15%. So during the test they will breathe 15% 02 for 15 minutes to see how their sats are. The doc suspects they will be fine, but wanted to check.

 

[Jane]

Thanks everyone. We have an appointment on Monday for the test.

I had no idea that regular room air is about 20% oxygen. On a plane it is 15%. So during the test they will breathe 15% 02 for 15 minutes to see how their sats are. The doc suspects they will be fine, but wanted to check.

 

[Jane]

Thanks everyone. We have an appointment on Monday for the test.
<br />
<br />I had no idea that regular room air is about 20% oxygen. On a plane it is 15%. So during the test they will breathe 15% 02 for 15 minutes to see how their sats are. The doc suspects they will be fine, but wanted to check.

 

[cnsky54RRT]

No, on a plane it is 21% as well. That does not change. The pressure of the atmosphere is lower than at sea level, but the relative mix of gasses does not change. At 15%, pilots would be falling out of the sky from hypoxia. Someone may be trying to simulate the decrease in pressure by lowering the O2 that they breathe, but O2 is ALWAYS 21% of the air we breathe unless something is being done to alter it intentionally. To drop to 15% someone has to be diluting the air with nitrogen, and that isn't happening anywhere.

Now, in Las Vegas the casinos add extra oxygen to the air because it has been shown that it keeps people awake longer, and they tend to stay up and gamble more. True story, not well-known to the patrons.

 

[cnsky54RRT]

No, on a plane it is 21% as well. That does not change. The pressure of the atmosphere is lower than at sea level, but the relative mix of gasses does not change. At 15%, pilots would be falling out of the sky from hypoxia. Someone may be trying to simulate the decrease in pressure by lowering the O2 that they breathe, but O2 is ALWAYS 21% of the air we breathe unless something is being done to alter it intentionally. To drop to 15% someone has to be diluting the air with nitrogen, and that isn't happening anywhere.

Now, in Las Vegas the casinos add extra oxygen to the air because it has been shown that it keeps people awake longer, and they tend to stay up and gamble more. True story, not well-known to the patrons.

 

[cnsky54RRT]

No, on a plane it is 21% as well. That does not change. The pressure of the atmosphere is lower than at sea level, but the relative mix of gasses does not change. At 15%, pilots would be falling out of the sky from hypoxia. Someone may be trying to simulate the decrease in pressure by lowering the O2 that they breathe, but O2 is ALWAYS 21% of the air we breathe unless something is being done to alter it intentionally. To drop to 15% someone has to be diluting the air with nitrogen, and that isn't happening anywhere.
<br />
<br />Now, in Las Vegas the casinos add extra oxygen to the air because it has been shown that it keeps people awake longer, and they tend to stay up and gamble more. True story, not well-known to the patrons.

 

[Jane]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>cnsky54RRT</b></i>

No, on a plane it is 21% as well. That does not change. The pressure of the atmosphere is lower than at sea level, but the relative mix of gasses does not change. At 15%, pilots would be falling out of the sky from hypoxia. Someone may be trying to simulate the decrease in pressure by lowering the O2 that they breathe, but O2 is ALWAYS 21% of the air we breathe unless something is being done to alter it intentionally. To drop to 15% someone has to be diluting the air with nitrogen, and that isn't happening anywhere.

.</end quote></div>

Hmm interesting- I'm just relating what the clinic told me. So then why do they test with 15% 02?

 

[Jane]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>cnsky54RRT</b></i>

No, on a plane it is 21% as well. That does not change. The pressure of the atmosphere is lower than at sea level, but the relative mix of gasses does not change. At 15%, pilots would be falling out of the sky from hypoxia. Someone may be trying to simulate the decrease in pressure by lowering the O2 that they breathe, but O2 is ALWAYS 21% of the air we breathe unless something is being done to alter it intentionally. To drop to 15% someone has to be diluting the air with nitrogen, and that isn't happening anywhere.

.</end quote>

Hmm interesting- I'm just relating what the clinic told me. So then why do they test with 15% 02?

 

[Jane]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>cnsky54RRT</b></i>
<br />
<br />No, on a plane it is 21% as well. That does not change. The pressure of the atmosphere is lower than at sea level, but the relative mix of gasses does not change. At 15%, pilots would be falling out of the sky from hypoxia. Someone may be trying to simulate the decrease in pressure by lowering the O2 that they breathe, but O2 is ALWAYS 21% of the air we breathe unless something is being done to alter it intentionally. To drop to 15% someone has to be diluting the air with nitrogen, and that isn't happening anywhere.
<br />
<br />.</end quote>
<br />
<br />Hmm interesting- I'm just relating what the clinic told me. So then why do they test with 15% 02?

 

[cnsky54RRT]

There is actually a formula to calculate what a person's oxygen saturation will be at altitude. The clinic near me doesn't test with lower oxygen, but does the formula based on sats at ground level and figures whether a flyer will be fine or short on oxygen. If your local clinic is actually using 15% (and I have never heard of this being done, but I'm not saying they aren't) it may be to simulate the amount of oxygen available to the lungs at a lower pressure that will be encountered in the airplane cabin. The airplane cabin will still be at 21% of the mixture, but it may be the EQUIVALENT of 15% at sea level.

It's kind of a tricky concept. If you breathe air at sea level, you are getting enough oxygen to get along at the standard 21%. If you were to fly high enough that the air pressure was exactly half what it is on the ground, you may not be getting enough to be safe, yet the mix is still 21% O2. There is just less of it getting into the bloodstream because there are half of the former number of molecules beating away inside the lungs. A pilot breathing regular air is safe to fly up to 12,000 ft, and then regulations state that if he/she is at that altitude for 30 minutes or more, supplemental oxygen must be used, usually a cannula with 2 or 3 liters flow. If a window blows out of a jetliner at high altitude and the cabin pressure escapes, the air up there is still 21% O2 and 78% Nitrogen, but it is WAY too thin to breathe, so the yellow masks with 100% drop out of the ceiling.

I want to take my cf friend to Hawaii, but at 25 she is already dependent on oxygen all the time. I cannot take a tank on board for her to breathe from due to the airline security problems these days, and the cabin pressure at 8000ft equivalent will be too thin for her, so I am looking into a portable concentrator that is allowed on the jet until we land and can get some rented tanks. Part of my ongoing outside-the-hospital-setting education is turning out to be just how much planning it takes to do activities that I take for granted everyday with a cf companion...

 

[cnsky54RRT]

There is actually a formula to calculate what a person's oxygen saturation will be at altitude. The clinic near me doesn't test with lower oxygen, but does the formula based on sats at ground level and figures whether a flyer will be fine or short on oxygen. If your local clinic is actually using 15% (and I have never heard of this being done, but I'm not saying they aren't) it may be to simulate the amount of oxygen available to the lungs at a lower pressure that will be encountered in the airplane cabin. The airplane cabin will still be at 21% of the mixture, but it may be the EQUIVALENT of 15% at sea level.

It's kind of a tricky concept. If you breathe air at sea level, you are getting enough oxygen to get along at the standard 21%. If you were to fly high enough that the air pressure was exactly half what it is on the ground, you may not be getting enough to be safe, yet the mix is still 21% O2. There is just less of it getting into the bloodstream because there are half of the former number of molecules beating away inside the lungs. A pilot breathing regular air is safe to fly up to 12,000 ft, and then regulations state that if he/she is at that altitude for 30 minutes or more, supplemental oxygen must be used, usually a cannula with 2 or 3 liters flow. If a window blows out of a jetliner at high altitude and the cabin pressure escapes, the air up there is still 21% O2 and 78% Nitrogen, but it is WAY too thin to breathe, so the yellow masks with 100% drop out of the ceiling.

I want to take my cf friend to Hawaii, but at 25 she is already dependent on oxygen all the time. I cannot take a tank on board for her to breathe from due to the airline security problems these days, and the cabin pressure at 8000ft equivalent will be too thin for her, so I am looking into a portable concentrator that is allowed on the jet until we land and can get some rented tanks. Part of my ongoing outside-the-hospital-setting education is turning out to be just how much planning it takes to do activities that I take for granted everyday with a cf companion...

 

[cnsky54RRT]

There is actually a formula to calculate what a person's oxygen saturation will be at altitude. The clinic near me doesn't test with lower oxygen, but does the formula based on sats at ground level and figures whether a flyer will be fine or short on oxygen. If your local clinic is actually using 15% (and I have never heard of this being done, but I'm not saying they aren't) it may be to simulate the amount of oxygen available to the lungs at a lower pressure that will be encountered in the airplane cabin. The airplane cabin will still be at 21% of the mixture, but it may be the EQUIVALENT of 15% at sea level.
<br />
<br />It's kind of a tricky concept. If you breathe air at sea level, you are getting enough oxygen to get along at the standard 21%. If you were to fly high enough that the air pressure was exactly half what it is on the ground, you may not be getting enough to be safe, yet the mix is still 21% O2. There is just less of it getting into the bloodstream because there are half of the former number of molecules beating away inside the lungs. A pilot breathing regular air is safe to fly up to 12,000 ft, and then regulations state that if he/she is at that altitude for 30 minutes or more, supplemental oxygen must be used, usually a cannula with 2 or 3 liters flow. If a window blows out of a jetliner at high altitude and the cabin pressure escapes, the air up there is still 21% O2 and 78% Nitrogen, but it is WAY too thin to breathe, so the yellow masks with 100% drop out of the ceiling.
<br />
<br />I want to take my cf friend to Hawaii, but at 25 she is already dependent on oxygen all the time. I cannot take a tank on board for her to breathe from due to the airline security problems these days, and the cabin pressure at 8000ft equivalent will be too thin for her, so I am looking into a portable concentrator that is allowed on the jet until we land and can get some rented tanks. Part of my ongoing outside-the-hospital-setting education is turning out to be just how much planning it takes to do activities that I take for granted everyday with a cf companion...

 

[Jane]

You are a great friend John. Good luck with the trip and thank you for the lesson!

 

[Jane]

You are a great friend John. Good luck with the trip and thank you for the lesson!

 

[Jane]

You are a great friend John. Good luck with the trip and thank you for the lesson!

 

[cnsky54RRT]

Ironically, the Bucket List trip to Hawaii to snorkel with dolphins may be on hold. Tomorrow I drive my friend over the snowy mountain passes so she can have a first interview with a transplant surgeon! I'm thinking it would be tough to be on a three-hour wait list for lungs and then have the phone ring to 'come right now!' as the plane lands in Honolulu!

 

[cnsky54RRT]

Ironically, the Bucket List trip to Hawaii to snorkel with dolphins may be on hold. Tomorrow I drive my friend over the snowy mountain passes so she can have a first interview with a transplant surgeon! I'm thinking it would be tough to be on a three-hour wait list for lungs and then have the phone ring to 'come right now!' as the plane lands in Honolulu!

 

[cnsky54RRT]

Ironically, the Bucket List trip to Hawaii to snorkel with dolphins may be on hold. Tomorrow I drive my friend over the snowy mountain passes so she can have a first interview with a transplant surgeon! I'm thinking it would be tough to be on a three-hour wait list for lungs and then have the phone ring to 'come right now!' as the plane lands in Honolulu!

 

[Jane]

So the boys had their test today. The technician had the exact same explanation as he did on the phone (15% oxygen on the plane, so 15% oxygen during the test). Maybe he needs some education?

Josh started with sats of 97 on room air and dipped down to 91 once during the 15 minutes. Mostly he stayed around 95. Poor Jesse has a cold but he started with 95 and went to 89 but stayed mostly around 91.

The tech said they need to stay above 86 to pass (fly w/o supplemental o2), so they're both fine to fly.

What bothered me was the doctor had already written the ok letter and the nurse brought it to us <b><i>before</i></b> they even did the test! If she was that confident, couldn't she have faxed it to us and avoided a trip into Boston on a snowy Monday morning? gggggrrrr

Anyway, glad that's over and we have one less thing we have to lug with us on the plane!<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">