What does it have to do with altitude sickness?
Please don’t just post “So they can breath, and not die.”
That part is pretty obvious. I want more details.
Thank you
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Why do military aircraft pilots wear masks that provide oxygen when they fly at high altitudes?
10 Comments
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#1 by Kenny on February 18th, 2011
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The higher the altitude, the less oxygen there is to breathe. It’s a pretty simple explanation really.
#2 by Cole C on February 18th, 2011
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As one’s altitude increases, the air gets thinner. As one gets farther from the earth the gravity pulling on the air molecules is less, and there are less packed into the same amount of space. This causes each breath to take in less air than it normally would, so pilots must supplement each breath with bottled oxygen or captured oxygen.
Altitude sickness is caused by lack of oxygen in the blood, which translates to less in the brain. The brain can’t think as clearly or at the same rate, so judgement and thought-processes are clouded and affected.
#3 by Shane A on February 18th, 2011
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A lot of your military aircraft are pressurized, just like civilian passenger planes. However, the pilot and copilot will wear their oxygen masks when in a combat situation in case the aircraft gets hit, either with a bullet or flack. The airplane could loose air without the pilot realizing before putting his mask on and passing out. So they have the masks on as a preventative measure.
#4 by pilot T on February 18th, 2011
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So they don’t pass out. Military pilots need to be conscious to operate the aircraft.
As altitude increases, there is less air pressure so it is less dense with inadequate oxygen levels to sustain consciousness. Acute mountain sickness (AMS), altitude illness, or hypobaropathy is an effect of high altitude on people, caused by acute exposure to low partial pressure of oxygen at high altitude. This generally occurs above 8,000 feet ASL.
The available amount of oxygen to sustain mental and physical alertness decreases above 10,000 feet ASL. People may be able to survive at certain altitudes but they’ll pass out first. Oxygen masks get around this little problem.
#5 by Viola At Neon on February 18th, 2011
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When planes travel higher than 10,000 feet they must, by law, provide air for the crew and passengers. They can do this by pressurizing the entire plane (e.g. airliners) or by feeding oxygen directly to the flight crew (most military planes).
Supplemental oxygen systems are available for small planes. A Cessna 152 can go up to nearly 15,000 feet, but must provide oxygen for those on board when they go that high, or the crew would get really dopey (at best) or die (at worst).
#6 by Rusty on February 18th, 2011
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are you for real….dont you know that the higher the altitude the thinner the air thus there is less availability of oxygen, also fighter pilots have a system in their oxygen breathing system that forces oxygen through the regulator(thing on their face) when the hit 2g’s cuz of the force
#7 by Caretaker on February 18th, 2011
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Actually there is a lot more to it than, ‘must breathe’.
Jet fighter cockpits are pressurized, they would have to be for temperature control if nothing else. It’s also not unusual for a pilot to release his mask and hang it off to one side for comfort. Besides safety, in the event of lost pressurization, another reason to wear the mask is that’s were the mike is.
Jets may have, oxygen bottles, a LOX (liquid oxygen) system, 100% pure oxygen, OBOGS (On Board Oxygen Generation System) which although not 100% O2, but its close enough or even produce oxygen from solid state like the C-5.
During most flight conditions oxygen is delivered to the mask through a regulator diluter mechanism. When cabin altitude increases, more 100 percent oxygen is added to the mixture until FL320 is reached. Then the ambient air port closes automatically and only 100 percent oxygen is delivered. If you lose pressure at high altitude it’s not enough to get 100% O2, it has to be delivered under pressure. That means you relax your diaphragm to in hale and force the air out to exhale. It also means you can only talk when inhaling. That’s one of the things you practice during altitude training.
Good question cuz it exposed a whole bunch of bad answers.
#8 by JetMech on February 18th, 2011
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Shane has the best answer. Caretake has the most complete and interesting answer which is also correct. Both are very good answers. The rest are wrong.
I recall going on a ride-along in my B-52. As I recall we were required by regulation to wear our helmet and masks, with blast shield down… during take-off, in-flight refueling, formation flying of any kind, at top of descent into the low-level route, and all through the low-level route….and also below 10,000 feet during landing. Most of that was for blast shielding from bird strike or what have you, but also as Shane and Caretake described, as a safety measure should we suddenly lose cabin pressure. (at higher altitudes, obviously.)
On one night-flight I got to go on, I was disappointed to see that there were lots of officers riding up front to get their night-time in-flight refueling currency up to date. So I was stuck back in the black hole behind the pilot seats…can’t see a thing. I heard their voices getting a little concerned when one particular student took the controls for his first night-time in-flight refueling hook-up. “Oh great, here we go.”
So I spun out of the bunk and sat their cross legged behind the instructor pilot who was sitting between the two pilots ….student in left seat and a Major sitting in the right seat as co-pilot. Instructor pilot was sitting in the instructor pilot’s seat….but co-pilot was actually giving instructions. I can’t see much but every once in a while I see the tanker float into view at a safe distance where he should be. It took forever for the student to move forward beyond the pre-contact position, but instructor was finally able to coax him to move the throttles forward a little more. Instructor taps co-pilot on arm as if to tell him, “it’s his mission, let him go for it.”
Student moved throttles forward and tanker gets bigger in wind screen. refueling boom now comes into view in the windshield,,,,refueling boom now gets closer to window…..refueling boom now gets DANGER CLOSE !…..HAIR STANDS UP ON THE BACK OF EVERYONE’S NECK ! ! ! !!!!!! Co-pilot gingerly grabs throttles and eases us out of the harpoon position all the time telling the student.”NO, NO, NO, not like that….be careful.” I think the boomer had us covered on that one to, but it must be hard for the boomer to judge things that close at night. Depth perception suffers at night. That was a close one…and yes we were all wearing our helmet, mask, and blast shield down.
(although, I wasn’t wearing my parachute, which I should have been wearing.)
#9 by p51 mustang on February 18th, 2011
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the higher you go the less oxygen is available to you . so they give them masks to ensure they will have enough oxygen .
#10 by mcdonaldcj on February 18th, 2011
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some military airplanes are unpressurised and, of course, the higher you go, the less oxygen there is to breathe
the oxygen masks supply extra oxygen for pilots who go above a certain altitude where it’s required to provide it