Mark
There are two, no, one, I can think
of. One I can just recollect (reported in Swiss Aero Review/OSTIV??)
was re Chilean Air Force Pilot (Abel Cintora??) who took of for a Gold C
Height attempt in a Blanik L13 seeking to go to around 13,000 feet. No O2
system on board that I recollect. He was drawn into a thunderstorm which
he couldn't escape. The barograph recorded 39,000 feet maximum from
memory. He blacked out. The outer wings were torn off in downwards
bending (probably due to wing spanwise washout and high speed) and the fuselage
was twisted. He survived the arrival back on ground.
(The second I had in
mind was prewar. There was the case of the five sailplane pilots drawn
into a huge thunder storm who emerged later minus their gliders and frozen to
death after cycling around the cloud under parachutes. But then that
should be rated a weather initiated event not a lack of oxygen
initiated event.)
It is however
in my view startling as to the lack of documented accidents or
incidents with gliders derived from lack of use of oxygen at height or the
failure of oxygen systems when one considers the amount of wave flying conducted
in gliders around the world. I have thought back over 35 years reading
Australian Gliding, 20 years of Soaring, 35 years of Sailplane & Gliding
(UK) and 15 years of Gliding Kiwi and I can't think of any such
reports.
It would indeed be
interesting if anyone can come up with significant reports of actual incidents
or accidents with gliders where oxygen, the lack of, or system failure was the
cause.
In the absense of
hard evidence we ought be more relaxed about policing oxygen. Education is
the way to go.
Besides if you let
the "oxygen police" loose you will have to let the "shaving police" loose
because FAA Advisory Circular 120-43 points to the hazards of "The Influence of
Beards on Oxygen Mask Efficiency".
Roger
Druce
_______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
