Greatest Altitude without pressure cabin/suit

"Gord Beaman" ) wrote in message . ..
"Dave Kearton" wrote:

"Gord Beaman" wrote in message
.. .
| "W. D. Allen Sr." wrote:
|
| 44,000 ft altitude means only about 1/7 of the atmospheric
| pressure at sea level. So it's hard to believe a person
| could maintain consciousness without oxygen pressure
| equipment to get to 49,500 feet.
|
| With half the atmosphere below 18,000 feet the U. S.
| military requires oxygen masks above 15,000 feet. And if I
| remember correctly they require full pressure suits above
| 50,000 feet altitude.
|
| WDA
|
|
| Well, I know for a fact that you can survive at 45,000 feet with
| only a 'demand' oxygen regulator connected to a regular oxygen
| mask as issued to the Canadian Military in the mid sixties in an
| aircraft with a 25,000ft service ceiling. That puts the cabin at
| ~30,000ft. Hell, we did a bunch of high altitude trials in an
| UNPRESSURIZED Fairchild C-119 at 25,000 for several hours at a
| time. But, of course, back then, men were men... harrumph...
| --
|
| -Gord.


Here's a few altitude pioneers that were climbing the skies way before the others:

http://www.afa.org/magazine/1991/0491pioneer.html

Rob

Gord,


While your manliness is above reproach, I'm not sure I see the relevance
of tests at 30,000' compared to 45,000, much less 49,500.


Breathing at that altitude must be like sucking meatloaf through a straw.



Cheers


Dave Kearton


You're quite right Dave, I only mentioned the 30 and 25k thing
because of the time at those heights. Some of us got a twinge of
the bends during those trials. Plus the 45k thing was an
extremely stupid trick. The slightest hiccup and the a/c would
have stalled, spun and likely disintegrated.

In message , QDurham
writes
"QDurham" wrote in message
...
| Breathing at that altitude must be like sucking meatloaf through a
straw
|
| Inhaling and exhaling aren't problems -- perfectly normal. It is just
that the
| inhaling part doesn't accomplish anything notably p[roductive. One
probably
| has 3-6 seconds of useful consciousness at 30K, no mask. Been there (in a
tank
| bolted to the floor) done that. Utterly unnoticed, utterly painless,
kinda
| fun, and REAL fast.
|
| Quent
|
|


I'd like to say that "that's what I meant" and try to bluff my way out of
it. Failing that, thanks for the info.



Cheers


Dave Kearton










Dave wrote:...
| Breathing at that altitude must be like sucking meatloaf through a
straw
|
Quent wrote:
| Inhaling and exhaling aren't problems -- perfectly normal. It is just that
the| inhaling part doesn't accomplish anything notably productive. One
probably has 3-6 seconds of useful consciousness at 30K, no mask. Been there
(in a tank bolted to the floor) done that. Utterly unnoticed, utterly
painless, kinda fun, and REAL fast.
|
| Quent
Dave wrote:
I'd like to say that "that's what I meant" and try to bluff my way out of it.
Failing that, thanks for the info.
Cheers


Dave Kearton

I was asked to write my name on a clipboard. "How many times?" "I'll tell you
when to quit." So I did (sans mask.) After 4th "absolutely perfect
signatures" , I stopped -- wondering why continue. ****. "I can do this the
rest of my life." (Not far off.)

Instructor slapped mask back on. Vision went from tunnel vision such as one
might see looking down a soda straw to wide open -- in color! Jeeze!
Stunnin!. Maybe 4 seconds. Humans do not store oxygen, and the absence of
same is perfectly painless. Been there. Done that. Delicious experience.

Quent
















Members of this august group: could I suggest that some take a little
time to do some judicious snipping? So that we don't send vast acreages
of white space to each other, like above.

Mike
--
M.J.Powell

Christian Köhler wrote:
Ron wrote:
"The greatest recorded height by any pilot without a pressure cabin
or even a pressure suit has been 49.500 feet by Britsh Sqaudron
Leader G. W. H. Reynolds, D.F.C. in a Spitfire Mark VC over Libya in
1942."


Wrong!

A sailplane reached 50,032 Feet over the sirerra nevada!

Whoops, im sorry.

The mentioned record is only 14 938 m (49.009 ft) flown by Robert R.
HARRIS (USA)

http://records.fai.org/gliding/histo...O&id2=1&id3=98

mfg