altitude question

Man....! 10 to 30 seconds!! That cant be good.

Thats like being in a submarine, running out of oxygen, deep under the sea, and you have to surface emmediately. For a small plane at that altitude, even in a dive, you would take a short while to get to 10,000 feet.

You would think people could last 3 min's unconcious with the air in their blood sustaining them. Does the atmosphere suck it out of them or something?

Skeeeeery....



Bill
 
Due to it being a medical text book I'm not 100% sure on the mechanics (On a good day I have an engineering degree but it's been a few years since I used it in anger), but I don't think it's the same as holding your breath. I.e. once you're unconscious you'll start to hyperventilate due to the build up of CO2/lack of Oxygen which will only make the situation worse, similarly if you don't know you're about to lose the Oxygen supply you won't have the supply in your body to last that long. For instance to hold your breath for 3 minutes you'll generally want to do a few deep breaths before hand.
I've also got a sneaky feeling the drop in pressure doesn't help.
Personally I can't remember the last time I went above 3000' in an unpressurised airplane so it's less worrying!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top