IMAGINATIONA friend of mine got an aërial mapping job last summer. He had to fly at twenty thousand feet to take the pictures. Some pilots can stand more altitude than others, but my friend didn’t know how much he could stand because he had never flown that high. He decided he had better take oxygen with him, just in case.His mechanic got a cylinder of oxygen for him, and he took off. He felt pretty groggy at eighteen thousand feet, reached down, got the hose, put it in his mouth, turned on the valve, and took a whiff of oxygen. He couldn’t hear the hissing of the stuff escaping because the motor noise drowned it out.He perked up immediately. The sky brightened, everything became clearer to him, and he went on up to twenty thousand feet. Every once in a while he would feel low and reach down and get himself another whiff of oxygen and feel all right again for a while.He didn’t say anything to his mechanic, but his mechanic decided for himself a few days later that the oxygen was probably getting low in that tank and that he would need another soon. He decided to put a new one in ahead of time to forestall the possibility of running completely out in the air.He brought a new tank out and decided to test it before he put it in the ship. He opened the valve and nothing happened. The tank was empty.He took it back to the hangar and discovered that the previous tank my friend had been flying on had come out of the same bin and had been empty all along.He got a good one and put it in the ship and didn’t say anything about the incident. My friend said that the next time he took a whiff of oxygen it almost knocked him out of his seat.
IMAGINATIONA friend of mine got an aërial mapping job last summer. He had to fly at twenty thousand feet to take the pictures. Some pilots can stand more altitude than others, but my friend didn’t know how much he could stand because he had never flown that high. He decided he had better take oxygen with him, just in case.His mechanic got a cylinder of oxygen for him, and he took off. He felt pretty groggy at eighteen thousand feet, reached down, got the hose, put it in his mouth, turned on the valve, and took a whiff of oxygen. He couldn’t hear the hissing of the stuff escaping because the motor noise drowned it out.He perked up immediately. The sky brightened, everything became clearer to him, and he went on up to twenty thousand feet. Every once in a while he would feel low and reach down and get himself another whiff of oxygen and feel all right again for a while.He didn’t say anything to his mechanic, but his mechanic decided for himself a few days later that the oxygen was probably getting low in that tank and that he would need another soon. He decided to put a new one in ahead of time to forestall the possibility of running completely out in the air.He brought a new tank out and decided to test it before he put it in the ship. He opened the valve and nothing happened. The tank was empty.He took it back to the hangar and discovered that the previous tank my friend had been flying on had come out of the same bin and had been empty all along.He got a good one and put it in the ship and didn’t say anything about the incident. My friend said that the next time he took a whiff of oxygen it almost knocked him out of his seat.
A friend of mine got an aërial mapping job last summer. He had to fly at twenty thousand feet to take the pictures. Some pilots can stand more altitude than others, but my friend didn’t know how much he could stand because he had never flown that high. He decided he had better take oxygen with him, just in case.
His mechanic got a cylinder of oxygen for him, and he took off. He felt pretty groggy at eighteen thousand feet, reached down, got the hose, put it in his mouth, turned on the valve, and took a whiff of oxygen. He couldn’t hear the hissing of the stuff escaping because the motor noise drowned it out.
He perked up immediately. The sky brightened, everything became clearer to him, and he went on up to twenty thousand feet. Every once in a while he would feel low and reach down and get himself another whiff of oxygen and feel all right again for a while.
He didn’t say anything to his mechanic, but his mechanic decided for himself a few days later that the oxygen was probably getting low in that tank and that he would need another soon. He decided to put a new one in ahead of time to forestall the possibility of running completely out in the air.
He brought a new tank out and decided to test it before he put it in the ship. He opened the valve and nothing happened. The tank was empty.
He took it back to the hangar and discovered that the previous tank my friend had been flying on had come out of the same bin and had been empty all along.
He got a good one and put it in the ship and didn’t say anything about the incident. My friend said that the next time he took a whiff of oxygen it almost knocked him out of his seat.