Securing portable oxygen

"dutch" wrote in message hlink.net...
I have a new IFR rating and am considering some higher altitude flights now
that I can drop down through cloud decks. Question: for those of you who
carry oxygen, how do you secure the tank so that you can still reach and see
to adjust the flow valve? Vendors sell seatback packs, but those sound
difficult to use.


Dutch,

The answer is that on most seatback packs I've seen (including the one
we use), there's nothing you need to see and adjust on the tank. The
main tank valve just gets opened. It can be opened just by reaching
back, no need to look or adjust anything.

The flow valve which needs to be seen and adjusted, is in the line
between the cannula (or mask) and the tank. So you just follow the
line from the cannula
down towards the tank until your hand hits it, then lift it up, glance
at it while adjusting, drop it, and breathe easier.

The easiest thing to do is to hook up all the lines and have everyone
put the cannulae around their necks before engine start. Turn on the
tank, make sure the regulator reads what you want it to read (full
or whatever), adjust everyone's flowmeter, then close the knob to the
main tank. Then in flight when you decide O2 would be a good thing,
just open the main tank valve and briefly check to be sure the
flowmeters
are still in the desired range.

HTH,
Sydney