Because Owning And Flying Your Beechcraft Can Be Done Safely AND For Less Money!
  CSOB SpO2 Pulse Oximeters

 

If you are regularly flying your trips at 8,000' and above (mine are 10-12,000'), there's no excuse not to be keeping an eye on your O2 Saturation level. Especially when these portable SpO2 meters are this CSOB inexpensive. It wasn't too long ago that these units sold for over $200 . Not anymore folks, now you can know your O2 saturation anytime during your flight for a very low price.

 

Read this chilling account of hypoxic pilot with ATC audio conversation HERE

 

Listen to the ATC audio of a Cirrus driver becoming hypoxic at 17,000' HERE

 

Getting to know your "normal" O2 saturation will help you to know what numbers you may want to put O2 on or go lower before becoming "compromised" by hypoxia. At $30, the Ascent unit is one of the lowest priced portable fingertip pulse oximeter I've seen:

 

  I have one of these units and it works great (except I paid $45 for it back in 2010)! Please feel free to send me a pirep on your unit  NEWS FLASH: These are now $30!

 

 

See how I installed a salvaged factory Oxygen system in my B55 HERE

 

 

Beech Lister and fellow Baron owner SS provides the following pulse oximeter pirep:

 

I bought one of the cheapies and had no frame of reference. I checked my numbers at various times and the device seemed to be working. At Tullahoma, I had the chance to check it against the high priced Nonin of Larry O. With his wife Carol as the test object, with my cheapie on one hand and the Nonin on the other, we found no difference between the two units. The display of the Nonin was an easier one to read, but mine was still okay. Questions such as battery life and durability are still unresolved. My guess is that they are good enough.

 

 


 

Here is another potential CSOB Pulse Oximeter:

 

        

 

Available from Walgreens at about $38

 


 

Here is another unit @ ~$15 from Amazon:

 

 


 

Here is another unit @ $34 from Costco:

 

 


 

Get yourself some hypoxia background info with this article written by Mike Busch & Dr. Brent Blue: HERE

 

Altitude in Flight level Time of Useful Consciousness Altitude in meters Altitude in feet
FL 150 30 min or more 4,572 m 15,000
FL 180 20 to 30 min 5,486 m 18,000
FL 220 10 Min 6,706 m 22,000
FL 250 3 to 5 min 7,620 m 25,000
FL 280 2.5 to 3 min 8,534 m 28,000
FL 300 1 to 2 min 9,144 m 30,000
FL 350 0.5 to 1 min 10,668 m 35,000
FL 400 15 to 20 sec 12,192 m 40,000
FL 430 9 to 12 sec 13,106 m 43,000
FL 500 and above 9 to 12 sec 15,240 m 50,000

 

So, no excuse to be hypoxic or even be slightly compromised and not know it. Any serious aviator flying trips of over an hour at or above 8,000', IMHO, should have one of these in their airplane to keep an eye on things!

 

Don't even think about being a turbo driver up there on your factory O2 or portable O2 system without one of these inexpensive ways to be SURE your system is keeping you in good shape!

 

Read what happened to this turbo driver HERE

 


 

Hypoxia Audio

 

Listen to this FILE, (contributed by Beech Lister & Lindy Winning Bonanza Owner Doug G.), these guys were VERY lucky to live to tell the tale. Here is the back story:

The events unfolded on July 26, 2008 when controller McCombs accepted the hand-off of KFS66 (call sign Kalitta 66), which appeared to have a stuck mike creating incomprehensible transmissions. Unclear to those in the Center, however, was that the co-pilot's arm was all the while moving violently and uncontrollably on the other end as the captain worked hard to hand fly the aircraft.
 

Through the help of another pilot's translation, Jay learned that the aircraft had declared an emergency. The plane was quickly changing altitude and McCombs immediately began to suggest closer airports, only to receive a reply that they wanted to continue to Ypsilanti, MI.

Amid the chaos to translate the captain's words, fellow controller Stephanie Bevins turns on the receiver so that she can now hear the pilot with her own headset. As she thinks through the symptoms in her head, she concludes that he must be hypoxic, a serious condition involving lack of oxygen due to pressurization problems. She knows immediately that they must descend the aircraft.
 

Following Bevin's initiative, McCombs begins bringing the aircraft to the lowest altitude available in order to alleviate the possible oxygen deprivation. Unable to answer questions, the pilot is only able to respond to direct commands that the controllers now begin to voice. "Descend and maintain," they repeat.

Remarkably, the captain's inability to turn on autopilot requires him to have to work in order to fly the airplane, keeping him conscious and the plane airborne. The pilot's words gradually become more understandable, and around 11,000 feet, he returns to normal and confirms that he had, indeed, been suffering from hypoxia.

 


 

Here is a report on cannulas done by CAMI. The purpose of this study was to identify the performance capabilities of pulse oxygen delivery systems that may be utilized in the general aviation flight environment. This study was requested by the FAA Northwest Mountain Region Aircraft Certification Region (ANM-100) to support equipment certification efforts. Current FAA regulations for general aviation oxygen equipment specify performance requirements for continuous flow oxygen systems (oxygen supplied continuously to an oral-nasal mask or nasal cannula at a specified flow rate), demand /diluter demand oxygen systems (100% oxygen or appropriately diluted oxygen supplied only during inhalation), and pressure demand oxygen systems (high altitude systems providing oxygen during inhalation at pressures greater than ambient). Pulse oxygen systems provide a flow of oxygen to a mask or nasal cannula only during the first phase of inhalation; thus, the function of the pulse system contains elements of both continuous flow and demand systems. Current regulations do not provide system performance or design standards that adequately define pulse oxygen systems; thus, the sponsor requested physiological evaluations at altitudes up to 25,000 ft.

 

Download it HERE

 


 

Need a Portable Oxygen System or Accessories?

 

 

Check Out DeltaOxygenSystems Pricing

 


 

Check Out CSOB Oxymizer Cannulas

CSOB $20 Oxymizer cannula HERE

 


 

See how I installed a salvaged factory Oxygen system in my B55 HERE

 

 

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