Oxygen on planes
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I've not seen the cylinders on larger planes as Quarrior mentions but I have seen them on smaller aicraft and they are 100% O2.
Aviator grade O2 is 100% O2. It's essentially the same as medical grade O2 but is required to be drier (less than 3 ppm water) to prevent ice forming in O2 systems at high altitude where the temp can be quite cold.
CNS O2 toxicity is not an issue as pressure drops with altitude and most flights are not long enough to pose pulmonary O2 toxicity concernes so 100% is used to give the maximum PPO2 to the pilot, crew and passengers.
The oddity here though is that O2 from most suppliers is essentially identical regardless of whether it is welding, medical or aviation grade O2. The different classifications have more to do with how it is labeled, handled and in some cases treated after it is produced.
CNS O2 toxicity is not an issue as pressure drops with altitude and most flights are not long enough to pose pulmonary O2 toxicity concernes so 100% is used to give the maximum PPO2 to the pilot, crew and passengers.
The oddity here though is that O2 from most suppliers is essentially identical regardless of whether it is welding, medical or aviation grade O2. The different classifications have more to do with how it is labeled, handled and in some cases treated after it is produced.
Charlie99
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What supplies O2 to all those masks for passengers that drop down if the plane depressurizes?
(Not the cylinders in the overhead bin that can be used for a passenger or two that are having difficulties breathing. Not the O2 supply for the flight crew.)
Somewhere I got the impression that the supply for those masks is some sort of one time use chemical generator. Didn't one of those things being shipped in a cargo hold go off accidently and start the fire that downed the Valu-Jet plane in Florida a couple decades ago?
(Not the cylinders in the overhead bin that can be used for a passenger or two that are having difficulties breathing. Not the O2 supply for the flight crew.)
Somewhere I got the impression that the supply for those masks is some sort of one time use chemical generator. Didn't one of those things being shipped in a cargo hold go off accidently and start the fire that downed the Valu-Jet plane in Florida a couple decades ago?
Charlie99:
You are quite correct on both counts, Charlie.
Rob
Quarrior:
He'll have to be on a military base. We don't use the stuff.
Rob
We have a bank of O2 cylinders in a special room that we use to service the bottles on board the aricraft, both the crew O2 bottle which is for the cockpit crew and the walk around bottles in the cabin. As a few of the others have said the drop down masks in the cabin are supplied by one time use chemical O2 generators.
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