Glider pilot runs out of oxygen on 900km flight
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- Опубликовано: 28 май 2024
- On this glider flight, I attempt to break my personal best distance record. I take a big risk by launching early in the day. Does it pay off? Later in the flight, I run out of oxygen. See what happened next...
Discover what flying sailplanes is really like. This is the story of a full glider flight, from take-off to landing, shown in time-lapse. It includes voice-over commentary, 3D visualizations, instrument overlays, statistical overlays, 360 video, and post-flight analysis.
Flight trace: www.weglide.org/flight/310945
3D visualization: www.sportstracklive.com/en/sc...
00:00 External 360 view
00:37 Preparing for takeoff
01:21 Takeoff
02:34 Struggling to climb
04:09 Forecast review
04:55 Catching up with Gordon
05:37 Crossing a blue gap
07:32 On the White Mountains
10:13 Decision point
11:16 Leaving the White Mountains
12:18 Doings yoyos
12:45 Running out of oxygen
15:01 Landing
15:39 Post-flight analysis
16:37 Lessons learned
#glider #gliding #soaring #sailplane 
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I just randomly stumbled upon this, and oh this is beautiful
cool channel ! *subscribed* greetings from Europe/Austria..
14,500 is Mt Whitney.... as long as you are in shape, should be no problem.....that being said, I might not be able to do that today, lol
Nice Ben, I flew those routes when I worked at Truckee in 1991- 1997, Super fun, fast and mostly high. Flew Les Sebald's Grob 102, always topped off with water. The big desert air taught me a lot.
Outstanding, Ben! What an adventure! Thanks.
Well done! Always exciting to break new personal goals.
Brilliant. Love you vids. Commentary is excellent.
Only 2.43K subscribers??? NO WAY....
Ben, Congrats on super flight !!! Thanks for spending the time making these awesome videos. They're really done well. EXCELLENT work.
Thanks, Gordon! It was good flying with you. Hope to meet you at Minden one of these days.
Congrats, Ben!!
Congratulations, it looks like it was a fun flight!
Great video
211km@540:1 = YAHOO!! Nice flight
Loved your video. I live on the east coast and only get to fly out west on rare occasions, but any time I fly above 12,500 ft I use oxygen and pulse oximeter to keep an eye on my oxygen saturation level. Could this be a way of stretching your oxygen supply in an emergency? Keep up the good work.
Using a pulse oximeter is a good idea, but be aware that they tend to lose accuracy at high altitudes. They can be useful to make sure your oxygen saturation hasn't dropped over time, but they aren't good for telling you if you're getting enough oxygen at the moment.
Nice video.
Good flying with you :)
Very nice video and congrats! Would you be so kind and explain the whole you do the shots - what kind of music?
Thanks! I use an Insta360 X3 camera that shoots in 360 degrees. For the exterior shots, I put the camera on a stick and put it out the window.
@@BenHirashima thank you for your fast reply and may I ask how do you mount the Insta camera to your canopy?
@@rokalefi I use a Ram mount that is screwed into the bottom edge of the canopy.
thank you - keep going - looking forward to new videos!
Great video but I am confused as to why you deployed spoilers to lose altitude. Of course no responsible pilot would deliberately go above the legal height without oxygen but yours ran out and didnt get noticed while already above. Hikers routinely climb above 14,000 feet without oxygen so why not continue on glide knowing you are descending anyway? Risking not making the destination seems to outweigh the risk of dumping height and not making it and the risk of hypoxia is low at that altitude. Different situation if you were above 18,000ft Grateful if you could share your thought process at the time.
I pulled the spoilers for two reasons. One is to be legal. The other is the reason for the law: Above 12,500ft, the lack of oxygen affects your brain. Even if you don't pass out, your mental capacity is diminished. If I had some other emergency while my brain was deprived of oxygen, I would be less able to handle it correctly. When you're hiking above 12,500, it doesn't matter that much if you're slightly dumber than usual, but it does matter when you're piloting an aircraft.
Thanks for the clarification. I was just wondering as in any case you were descending so both the legality and potential hypoxia issues were on their way to being resolved, would be a shame to dump height then damage something in a field landing because you were short. Seems more likely that any additional emergency would be at that point than when you had plenty of height.
@@david3599 Yeah, I hate to dump precious altitude, but like I said in the video, I had plenty of margin to spare, so descending to 12,500 didn't add much risk of landing out.
I'm not in the sport but I wonder if there's some device that can give real time continuous blood oxygen level but also be convenient enough for a pilot. The only device I know that takes oxygen readings is the finger clip; not sure if that is continuous.
Some pilots use pulse oximeters. They have accuracy issues at higher altitude, but can provide a little extra safety.
@@BenHirashima I have one because I figured 'norms are one thing but folk vary & my lungs aren't perfect'.
Therefore it would be good to see where my Oxgenation level began to fall off.
Then I dicovered most of the flight medical advice is, as you say, these monitor's are not so reliable at height.
(I have no idea why this would be so unless they are pressure sensitive & I don't see why they would be - maybe fingers swell slightly in lower pressure tho & confuse the reading?)
Incidentally, is that an LS6 (and why is the lettering the wrong way around if it is)?
Let’s get you equipped with the dual stage regulator so you could use what otherwise would be unusable O2 due to pressure drops while your cylinder is approaching empty.
I do have a dual stage regulator. It can't prevent you from running out of oxygen.😁
@@BenHirashimamaybe a scrubber similar to rebreathers, they can go on a tiny o2 tank for 3 to 4 hours and as I see weight is not a problem, part of the ballast can be replaced by scrubber material, it's time to mix technologies, extreme dives to extreme heights no idea if ever done just brainstorming
14k ft is too high? FAA? I'm pretty sure I've been up that high in the mountains w/ zero issues.
The FAA requires pilots to use oxygen above 12,500 because mental acuity declines at that altitude due to the reduced oxygen in the air. If you're hiking in the mountains, you may not notice it, but a pilot needs his or her brain to be working at 100% at all times to be safe.
@@BenHirashimafor a Denver resident 12,500 should be no problem at all. For Washington DC on the other hand, yeah maybe … and that is where the rules are made. 😢
@@laulaja-7186 The regulation is actually based on science, not politics. We know how a lack of oxygen affects pilots' brains due to scientific experiments done by NASA and the air force.
@@laulaja-7186Well, politics aside, when flatlanders (like me) go to such altitudes, the rule is well justified. I hiked the last weeks through the Sierra with my wife and was out of breath constantly when hiking at >= 10000ft. The same week I took a ride at Minden (my pilot let me fly 😊) and rose up to 12000. Without strenuous hiking that worked, albeit I started feeling it. If staying there longer it would have affected me more. The rule is well justified.
in case of airliners, passengers need to be considered too, oxygen is for roughly 15 mins and someone's 87 years old granny probably not in the same shape as a 17 years old athlete
So Gordo launched an hour earlier and still stayed up...sounds like the rest of the fleet wasted a lot of a good day launching after the thermals punched through.
Yeah he launched 50 minutes ahead of me. You can see from his trace that he spent a lot of time scratching and just barely surviving. I heard him on the radio and it didn't sound like he was having fun.
Entirely inappropriate risk when flying. You don't belong in the air.
Obviously, I disagree. But just out of curiosity, which part are you referring to?
He descended to 12500ft
What the hell are you talking about?
12b… to the uninitiated, cross country soaring can seem risky. Ben is not bothering to narrate constant “what if” contingency planning which is a part of every flight. You should try the sport yourself and learn more about a wonderful sport that is far more rewarding than dangerous!
12bengineer obviuosly takes no risk in life and has zero fun - therefore you are indoctrinated into the the Fun police brigade, congratulations.