This is interesting, found on CNN tonight.

[zboss]

LONDON, England -- Airline passengers are putting up with "significant" drops in the supply of oxygen while flying at high altitude, according to researchers.

Just over half of all fliers analyzed had oxygen levels 6 percent lower than usual when the airplane was at maximum altitude -- a level at which doctors normally administer extra oxygen for hospital patients.

-------------

I wonder what implication this might have on incidents where there is no evidence of DCS until a flight.

 

[TheAvatar]

They would normally give O2 in a hospital setting to patients with O2 sats like that IF THEY WERE AT SEA LEVEL. O2 sats below 95% are normal at those altitudes (8000ft equivelent). That is not a shocker. I see it every day at work with more active people. Airline passengers are sitting on their hineys and don't have a big O2 demand. It's not like they are at altitude long enough to get HAPE or HACE. They wouldn't even get AMS except maybe on a Tokyo-London flight.

So what's their point?

 

[Rick Murchison]

Much ado about nothing.
Rick