FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-66/20

Title and Subtitle: Evaluation of the Sierra hanging quick-don crew pressure-breathing oxygen mask.

Report Date: June 1966

Authors: McFadden RB, Lategola MT.

Abstract: A new design, hanging, quick-don crew pressure breathing oxygen mask applicable to jet-transport operations was tested and evaluated in three phases, consisting of (1) exposing five masked subjects to a stepwise altitude-chamber flight profile with a maximum altitude of 43,000 feet; (2) rapidly decompressing five masked subjects from 8,000 to 40,000 feet in 45 to 50 seconds; and (3) similarly decompressing these subjects and donning the mask during the decompression.

Donning was accomplished in 2.5 to 6.3 seconds after the donning signal, at altitudes varying between 28,000 to 31,000 feet. When used with a pressure-breathing regulator incorporating the military pressure-breathing schedule, the mask maintained subjects in a satisfactory physiological condition at 43,000 feet. When worn prior to and during a rapid decompression, the mask provided adequate protection. When donned during the rapid-decompression profile, there was a significant transient decrease in blood saturation without loss of consciousness followed by a rapid recovery of blood saturation.

Key Words: oxygen masks (effectiveness), pressure breathing, altitude chambers, decompression, breathing masks, stress (physiology), aviation medicine.

No. of Pages: 32