“Other than that, A-OK”. Mad props to this guy’s hypoxic sense of humor.

So, new piloting task order: 1) Respirate 2) Aviate 3) Navigate 4) Communicate

for all those who arent pilots there is still somethign to take away from this: notice how despite being passed out for so long, the fo was able to wake up and resume normally functioning. that is because even after you pass out, you'll still be alive for a while and your brain just goes into this limp mode until it gets back oxygen. this is why you ALWAYS ALWAYS help yourself to the air masks before helping your kids out or any loved ones. it is important that you are able to get that one while your brain is still awake. if your loved ones pass out, its totally fine as long as you are awake to put on the mask for them after which they will be able to wake up.

Huge respect to that captain for getting the attention of the air traffic controllers despite falling to hypoxia!!! Insane resistance!

I can’t believe this guy held onto consciousness through sheer focus and force of will

Some background info I Googled: The incident happened in July 2008. It was a cargo flight, there were no passengers, only the Captain and FO were on board. The FO was unconscious, but his arm was flailing violently, and so he kept switching the autopilot off. This is why the Captain had to keep hand flying the plane, which caused him to concentrate and it's probably why he remained conscious. A second controller was indeed listening in after it became clear there was something going on. She recognised the hypoxia. Both controllers received a safety award (the Archie League Medal of Safety) for the Great Lakes region for their actions in getting this plane to safety. Neither the NTSB nor the FAA have reports on the incident, so the cause is unknown.

Incredible how quickly the pilot recovers once he's no longer hypoxic.

As an AF flyer, I picked up on the hypoxia clues right away. We were required to attend physiological training (altitude chamber) every 18 months. My early symptoms were always loss of color perception and tunnel vision. We also practiced rapid decompression at 40K ft to train for mask-on and "gang load" the O2 regulator. This training can save your life, Kelsey. Get the training as soon as you can.

The pilot was amazing keeping himself together! You can tell he was running on 100% willpower.

"everything else is A-OK!" - typical hypoxic euphoria. I once had a hypoxic pilot at a balloon meeting. Everyone (about 20 pilots) told him via radio to use oxygen. He answered everyone how great everything is and that all is good! Then suddenly he did not answer any more. Luckily a few minutes late he was on the radio again with a sober voice: "Thanks to all - I fucked up. I am on oxygen and NOW everything is OK! Thank you for your help!"

As a flight surgeon in the USAF, I completed altitude chamber training. Upon removing the mask at artificial FL350, I was required to perform small tasks. I multiplied when I was supposed to divide. I couldn't spell. I also started giggling and became giddy. It was interesting to observe fellow docs whose baseline personalities were accentuated. One airman fell asleep, another had no adverse effects, a third became very combative. My one concern about the audio from this clip is the failure of the ATC to direct the pilot to immediately don the oxygen mask.

Hey Kelsey, I don't think you let the viewers know just how incredible this was by the captain. Hypoxia can be and is very deadly for a pilot because you will lose consciousness and sometimes not even know what's going on because of the euphoric side effect. This pilot stayed focus from FL320! All the way back down to FL110. The first officer was already passed out and his hands were flailing all over and knocking off the auto-pilot, which means if the captain lost consciousness it would be game over for both. No one knows for certain how the captain pulled this off but it is believed him being a long time smoker helped. His lungs were already accustomed to the lack of oxygen from his long time smoking habit so being hypoxic was another day at the office for them, thus keeping him awake.

I just thought the pilot was being ironic or humorous when he made the A-OK comment. Kind of like, "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"

That was horrible. I really felt for them, The captain did amazingly well to hang on

You know you’ve binge watched too many aviation videos when you detect hypoxia before ATC 😂

I studied this case in initial training when I became a flight attendant. What saved this Captain and made it so that he did not pass out like his FO is that he was a chain smoker. His body was used to operating on decreased oxygen. The fact that he was a chain smoker actually saved his life. Because he remained at least semi-conscious enough to continue to function until they were able to get back down to a breathable altitude. When the FO finally came around neither one of them realized that there had been any problem at all. They did not realize what had happened

I went through hypoxia training in the military. In a pressure controlled environment. They simulated taking us up to “30,000 feet” while on O2. Then we removed the masks and were required to perform several tasks. Simple math problems, paddy cake, reading comprehension. It is incredible. You would be amazed to know how quickly the symptoms arise, how you quickly lose situational awareness, etc. Then you don the O2 masks and within literally 1 minute you are like, “what the heck were we just doing”. It feels like right before you go under anesthesia if you’ve ever had surgery. That’s my best description.

The second I heard the pilot's voice, my blood pressure shot up lol. Even if he was intoxicated, (and that would be REALLY intoxicated) I would still (if I was ATC) consider that an aircraft in distress. As a medic, I took on a patient one day, that everyone else ignored and even showed disdain to, because they assumed he was drunk; he was in diabetic shock. A red flag is the universe inviting you to investigate further. Yes, you're going to find a hundred drunk people. But the day you save a life, you will never forget. Also, the day that you could have saved a life and you choose to ignore it, I promise- you will never forget. It was really curious that ATC wasn't alarmed at the initial coms!

The alarms and slowed slurred speech all at once were immediate signs to me that he was experiencing hypoxia. I couldn’t believe how well he was communicating and somehow stayed conscious and able to somewhat function.

While in the navy in the very early 70s, I was a parachute rigger. Once I got to my destinations squadron one of the coolest classes I was sent to was Flight physiology. We learned about disorientation and incorrect perception of what we were actually seeing when flying at night, and hypoxia. It was a lot of fun in that pressure chamber. 10 guys and an instructor Playing patty cake, trying to recite the alphabet, and a really tough one, counting.

I heard a similar clip out of Australia before where the controller said loudly and clearly: "Aircraft Callsign, OXYGEN OXYGEN OXYGEN" Seems like a good way to get the message across to a pilot with very limited mental capacity

Speaking as a controller who develops training for my fellow controllers about emergencies, in the last five years we now teach controllers dealing with suspected hypoxia events, we should firmly tell a pilot to "put your oxygen mask on" in addition to clearing the airplane to an altitude of roughly 10,000 feet. Before that, controllers were only taught to clear airplanes for a descent.

Hypoxia is a hard thing to fight through. This pilot had an Iron will to stay conscious like that.

As soon as I heard his voice my mind was “hypoxia or stroke”. I was at a gliding comp a couple years ago and two blokes got hypoxia (they didn’t have their oxygen on a high enough setting) both were able to get back and land safely fortunately. At another event a bloke had a stroke while flying, successfully landed but passed out on the role out, he came good as well.

I initially thought he was having a stroke. Scary situation but thankfully the pilot could communicate the issue.

That's terribly scary. Especially that ATC didn't pick up on the first call.

Great video on hypoxia. In my previous career as a 20 year paramedic I saw numerous cases of this in head injury & other medical reasons. It’s definitely weird stuff! Different cause, same outcome. Changing the subject I met a new colleague yesterday, the subject soon turned to aviation. He’s like ‘ I follow this 747 freight guy on KZfaq’ I’m like ‘Kelsey?’ He’s like ‘YES!’ 👍🏻 small world…. 😁

The level of professionalism you airline pilots display literally makes my hair stand on end, I commend you all. I work in a similar industry and I strive to be the most professional I can be for my passengers but seriously, your cognitive ability is very impressive. In another life I would have been a pilot but I couldn't get through the class 1, next time maybe. Much respect!

Well, I'm glad you plan to do that course! When the pilot said 'everything is AOK' - that was eerie. There is such a striking difference in the before-and-after voices. Really quite scary.

Actually EXTREMELY impressed with that pilot's recovery. Wow.

I have been through this in Greek airspace inbound Heraklion airport after a loss of cabin pressure and the weirdest thing is that I found it impossible to relay our problem to ATC the way I wanted to. Maybe the language barrier was too big but at that time I experienced a sense of urgency which was not picked up by ATC. At the end of the day all went well but I never felt comfortable about the way things went. After landing and on our way to a hotel we, the flight crew, realised that clear communication about the state we were in, should have made the difference. In this case it did not and therefore I urge all traffic controllers around the globe to be aware of indications of hypoxia and its symptoms.

What an amazing story! Back when I was a low-hour commercial pilot building hours, I flew a lot of cargo in Cessna Centurions. The FBO I worked for had 3 of them, but only one was pressurized. One day I was called in for a last-minute emergency trip across the country in a unpressurized plane. It would be a very long flight, so another pilot and I were to share flying duties. We took advantage of a tailwind by climbing up to 17,500 feet on the outbound flight, where the other pilot was PIC and I was officially off duty. I told the other pilot that I was going to do an experiment, and took off my oxygen mask. (By law, passengers in unpressurized aircraft are supposed to wear oxygen above 15000 feet, but that would have ruined my experiment.) Aside from some minor shortness of breath, I was disappointed that I didn’t notice any effects of the thin air. We flew for quite a while before the flying pilot handed me a paper chart and asked me to point to some of landmarks. I confidently provided my response - at which point he told me to put my oxygen on. Once I was oxygenated, I realized that I’d been using the Seattle sectional. We were nearly to Denver! I had no clue how badly hypoxia was affecting my ability to reason until after I got the mask on.

As a former controller and retired military aviator - subject to editing the video it would seem the controller (working higher altitude flight levels) started the incident aircraft down to the bottom of his airspace. You can’t clear somebody into another controllers airspace without prior coordination. He then worked out - coordinated - lower 11,000 ft. When I was a controller I was shocked at how few controllers percentage-wise had actually flying experience. Also the FAA - varied by facility, I’m sure - didn’t have extensive continuing education on flight physiology, etc. When I did a two year tour as a EPDS (Instructor) in the Training Department I attempted to change that against a lot of resistance. I was told “Controllers don’t get hypoxia!”

What most people don't know is you don't feel like you are suffocating. You would think lack of oxygen would make you feel that way but it doesnt. The feeling of suffocation comes from high carbon dioxide levels. So, as long as you have low co2 level you feel fine breathing wise even if there is zero oxygen.

This is terrifying. I CAN'T believe you wouldn't have to go through this in training to become a pilot.

I used to live about 2 miles from Willow Run airport (Ypsilanti). There's a flight school run out of that airport that (at least as of three years ago) still operates 727s for training purposes. Multiple 707s and stripped down 727s (in old FedEx livery) are still parked there for training mechanics. There is also a flightworthy B-17 kept at that airport. Which is a frequent sight because it takes almost daily tourist flights. I saw a 727 pass over my house so low that I swear I could have jumped and touched it. Those LOUD engines and the vintage planes are the best part of that airport. As an aviation geek, if my hypoxic brain had to pick an airport to die at, Ypsilanti wouldn't be a terrible choice.

Thought it was a stroke at first, till he said he was A-OK. I guess he was so happy that even though his first officer was passed out he didn't realize he needed oxygen? The human brain is really a mystery!

I'm glad that my amateur pilot knowledge is at a level where I figured the pilot was hypoxic. Super dangerous situation and I'm glad they made it. Pilot is a boss!

I worked with a controller who worked at Cleveland Center when this happened. After the situation was investigated and settled, it was determined the probable reason that the pilot in command didn't pass out as the co-pilot had, was because he was a smoker and was accustomed to reduced O2 levels in his lungs. I have no idea if this was the case, but it makes sense.

“5 by 5” is a military thing going back to WW2. After the war, it was adopted formally and informally by various groups who spend a lot of time on the radio. I still learned it when I was in the Army in the mid 90s. It’s also still used by Ham radio operators.

I'm glad you brought this hypoxia incident to light. While you had to to do some editing for brevity, as Daedalus Young states below, it was the second controller and not the first who picked up on the likelihood that the Kalitta captain was hypoxic. Indeed, the first controller was, in my opinion, oblivious to the clues that were being presented to him. It was the second controller who saved the day by alerting the first controller. Also note that the first controller never adjusted the speed in which he spoke, which is something that, in my view, should have been for pilots who are flying in a compromised state. It is my understanding that present day controllers are taught about hypoxia and this incident in particular.

The two numbers 5x5 stand for Strength, Readability in that order. So a 3x5 would be strength 3 (out of 5), readability 5 (out of5). A 4x2 would be fairly strong (loud) but quite garbled and not very understandable. My days in the late 60’s in the high Arctic we used HF (high frequency) radios where strength and readability played a very big part in tuning for best communications. Often we had to switch to “Say twice” format where we would repeat every word twice as we talked. Like your channel carry on.

Super interesting. The interactions between controllers and pilots here makes me wonder about people who might switch from one career to another and what sorts of useful info they could bring, like a pilot recognizing trouble because of flight experience and vice versa

The fact that I could tell instantly that he was suffering from hypoxia when I'm not a pilot or anything close to that, tells me I've been watching waaay too many air crash videos 😅 props to that second pilot that figured it out immediately too.

Very similar to the Australian pilot flying a Cessna 208B on the 2nd July 2020, he was lucky to survive and ATC recognised hypoxia quickly. The plane had autopilot that was engaged and he flew over 40 miles past his destination. He was not responding to radio calls and another aircraft nearby managed to get close enough for visual and relay messages. He landed safely.

When I was Air Force aircrew in the '80s and 90s, we all had to take altitude chamber training. The initial course was 3 days with a 1 day refresher course every 3 years. It was very valuable training as you got to see how you actually reacted to hypoxia and (while they were still doing rapid decompression training) what it looks and feels like during a rapid decompression. One of the amazing things I learned is that you lose color vision when hypoxic. Before putting our oxygen masks back on with pressurized 100% oxygen, they had us look at a color wheel. It was like a black and white picture. As soon as the 100% oxygen flooded our lungs, the colors of the wheel just jumped out. It was incredible.

Absolutely amazing he was able to function and fly considering his situation.

I honestly thought the guy was drunk. We learn new things every day and im glad you always teach us cool stuff

What I find amazing is that controllers do not appear to receive specific training in recognising hypoxia. I accept, that as a glider pilot who has flown in wave, that I immediately recognise the symptoms, but it is really not that difficult. Such training would be easily achieved in one day and should be compulsory for controllers working Flight levels above FL140. In this instance the most useful thing the controller could have done, before starting the descent, would have been to tell the pilot to put on his oxygen mask. Even if hypoxia was not the problem no harm would have been done apart from the consumption of a few litres of oxygen. Oxygen cylinders are easily refilled, I have done it many times.

I was employed as an ATC at the time of this incident and as I recall this flight departed the airport where I worked and was handed off to Cleveland center although I did not work that day. We later were briefed and listened to the tapes for training. The LR25 was known to have occasional decompression problems from time to time and most of the time the flight crew would declare an emergency or request special handling.and continue low level if possible to the closest airport that serviced their company. However, occasionally decompression or O2 problems occur and the crew does not notice or request an emergency descent because hypoxia can occur subtly. Controllers are trained to recognize and react to emergencies when notified of the problem by the flight crew. That is why the controller did not react as fast as would seem necessary at first. It takes years of experience to recognize a crew in distress simply by intuition. They were given the award because through teamwork two lives were saved. BTW controllers trained in the military often voluntarily go through decompression training.

"I CAN'T CONTROL MY PLANE!!!!" "BUT OTHER THAN THAT, WE'RE GOOD!"

I'm always amazed how hard the brain tries to, and can, go on 'autopilot'. I worked with a nurse a long time ago who was just one of those people who was never late or absent. One morning, she was no call, no show for her shift. Worried, we called her house, and her husband said she had left for work like normal at the normal time. Two or three hours later, she turned up on the unit completely confused and disoriented with no recollection of how she got there. She died 3 months later of a large inoperable brain tumor. There was also the famous case of the guy whose son put an ax through his skull while he slept, but when his morning work alarm went off, blood evidence showed he had gotten up, showered, shaved, packed his lunch and got the paper from outside before finally succumbing to injuries which should not have been compatible with life.

Glad your eye is doing better. Great video as always

I was a controller at Indy Center at the time. This made the rounds to ATC facilities as training on what to look for regarding hypoxia. There was traffic at FL 250 which is why the initial clearance was 260. I don’t believe he ever had to stop his descent and was able to get to thick air. It’s been a long time though. The flight was about 150-200 NM East of KYIP which was his filed destination.

This was terrifyingly weird. I felt so anxious for the poor pilot. One of my favourite videos to date.

I was surprised you didn't mention the reduction or complete absence of motor skills while hypoxic. This is why he couldn't control the aircraft. But somehow he did find enough motor skills to somehow begin descending. Maybe he even just slumped enough to put pressure on the yoke. As a flight crew member in the USAF I got to experience the "altitude chamber" many times and it was eye opening each time becoming hypoxic and during hypoxia. You discover your own symptoms and reactions.

I went thru the altitude chamber at Mather AFB when I flew on B-52s in the USAF on the 1980s. It is a real eye opener to experience hypoxia and find out what your unique symptoms are. My main symptoms are tunnel vision and a sense of well being. It's amazing how quickly your vision returns after a few breaths once you go back on O2. I highly recommend any pilot who plans on flying over 10,000 feet take a flight physiology course that includes time in the altitude chamber.

The two numbers in "five by five" mean different things: the first is signal strength, the second is quality/intelligibility. A weak signal can still be quite intelligible if it's clean, while a strong signal can be unreadable due to distortion or interference. The plain english equivalent of 5x5 would indeed be "loud and clear", where "loud" indicates the signal strength and "clear" the readability. Saying "one by five" means "very weak but clear", i.e. you were still able to understand them perfectly, despite the weak signal.

This brings back so many memories. While on flight status in the Air Force I was required to go through altitude chamber training often, you do verbal and motor skills as you become more and more hypoxic to learn to recognize how it affects you. We were also put through rapid decompression, which I can tell you instantly cleats your sinuses. All the air is sucked out of you and the chamber becomes filled with cold fog. When I fly commercially now and they give you the safety briefing about the oxygen masks dropping from the ceiling I laugh to myself because I know what's really going to happen. Kelley if you haven't already done it go get the training.

I didn't take his "A-OK" as a sign of euphoria. I took it as exasperated sarcasm. This pilot is juggling and doing somersaults with his hands tied behind his back to save two lives, and the ATC sounds like he's preoccupied with his breakfast bagel flavor selection, and doesn't want to be distracted. So the "A-OK" sounded to me like it might well have been followed up with an "... _Einstein_ !" But clearly the pilot is simply way to professional for that. Even if it was deserved.

I was an Air Traffic Controller in the military from 1967 to 1973 and I wanted to ride in the back seat of various aircraft but first, I had to get my high altitude card. I was with about 20 guys who got into the high-altitude chamber and took turns taking off our oxygen masks. We were supposed to start writing on a notepad and put back on the oxygen mask when we felt that we were losing control. After a while, I just quit writing. None of us ever put our masks on in time and the other guy had to put our masks back on for us. My last few letters were illegible and I thought I was fine. I was angry that the other guy thought that I needed to put on my mask.

As a freediver and scuba diver, it was fairly evident from the first call, and it was obvious by the third call that the pilot was in an hypoxic state.

I supervised that airspace, and we put the flight on an overhead speaker so that we could all listen to what was happening. A controller realized immediately that it was hypoxia, and we known that we had to get him down asap. It happened in Cleveland Enroute Center, one of the busiest airspaces in the world. We had to start to FL230 because of the many communications with the controller at the lower altitudes. This cannot happen instantly. The controllers did a great job and were awarded certificates for their outstanding service. We had another private jet (Payne Stewart) that flew through our airspace and had a loss of cabin pressure 9apperantly human error), that turned out to be a tragic event. I worked at ZOB (Cleveland Center) for 29 years, at O'Hare for 2 to 3 years, and at the Air Force control tower and approach for 4 years. I witnessed many emergency events, some tragic, and this one still gives me chills.

That cpt was a trooper. Awesome. I just found this channel and love it. Subscribed. I'm a retired blackhawk and huey crew chief and it's amazing how the lingo comes back. Good memories.

Hypoxia is so interesting (and scary). My husband had to do the hypoxia training with the Air Force. Definitely record your experience if you do the training!

About 25 years ago, I went to a depressurization chamber at a military base in Toronto (Canada) because 19 of my skydive friends and I wanted to experience the symptoms of hypoxia (in order to recognize them) before doing a skydive formation at 28,000 feet. The test consisted of drawing a circle, a square, a rectangle, a triangle, etc. over and over. After about 50 seconds of lacking oxygen in our masks, our drawings became more and more distorted... with a tunnel vision. I still have that drawing as a souvenir. It was a very nice experience for our safety. Kelsey... you must go to this chamber to experience those symptoms.

Medical type person here. My first guess was hypoxia when I heard the pilot speak and the altitude. He did absolutely fantastically, to get that plane down.

I was greatly impressed with how he kept functioning reasonably well despite being hypoxic.

I recognised the problem from the title! I'm pretty appalled by how slow the controller was in recognising it - you would hope that they would be trained, at least by listening to a few cases, to have a high index of suspicion for hypoxia on any flight above 11 or 12,000ft if the communication sounds intoxicated - but it was OVER THREE MINUTES, at an altitude where the useful time of consciousness is usually measured in seconds, not minutes. Do they EVER get the chance in training to listen to recordings of people going hypoxic? And if not, why not? Helios Flight 522 is a well-documented case from 2005 which killed all 121 on board, and only avoided landing on Athens due to the steward Andreas Prodromou, who held a UK commercial licence, seeing the F-16s sent to intercept and examine the unresponsive flight, then entering the cockpit on portable oxygen and taking partial control of the aircraft, which had been circling the destination Athens VOR once the autopilot had determined they had arrived, then immediately had first the left then not long after, the right engine flame out due to fuel exhaustion, so that he had no chance to attempt a dead-stick in an unfamiliar type far larger than he had ever flown - so he steered it into a mountainside to avoid additional casualties. He tried calling a Mayday, but the radio was still tuned to the departure frequency of Larnaca, where the flight originated. Or, in the US, there is the example of the well-publicised 1999 South Dakota Learjet 35 crash which killed all 6 on board including the well-known PGA golfer Payne Stewart.

I think one of the saddest decompression crashes I've seen recreated was Helios Airlines Flight 522. The post crash autopsies confirmed all the victims were alive when the airplane crashed but not whether they were conscious or unconscious. Fortunately, like the Payne Stewart crash, no one on the ground perished. This was a great video Kelsey and glad your eye is better!

Kelsey. Great video. 26 yr Af aviator retired, but the hyperbaric training we received was critical. Your comments about cabin altitude were spot on. ATC should have cleared them to 10k immediately. I would rather have an ATC controller command a series of maneuvers and altitudes than hypoxia pilots not make their way in. We’ve lost too many from hypoxia.

Excellent video! Fabulous team work from first pilot reporting he has control problems to the ATC recognizing hypoxia to the Captain who willed himself to stay flying! Heroes! Paine Stewart’s ghost flight and Helios 522 are the only times I have heard of hypoxia as the cause. It’s a miracle these guys got to land and be “okay”.

Wow that was scary. Don't know why but the background alarm made me think instantly of loss of pressurization. It's sounds pretty good for that... That is also very impressive that this pilot was hand flying the stuff AND somewhat communicating and understanding ATC despite being seriously incapacitated. He's a tough guy!

Kelsey: I discovered your channel a few weeks ago while I was studying for my ppl written exam. I took the exam this evening and had a number of questions on topics that you discussed in your videos. I passed with a comfortable margin. Thanks for the assist. Look forward to your next videos.

I felt the controller was slow to recognize what was going on and despite being told of the lack of controls still asked for confirmation. It also surprised me that they didnt tell them descend to 12,000 - I thought that was the altitude for O2 but may remember that incorrectly. Hopefully this increased awareness for controllers and pilots of hypoxia and to get down to a breathable altitude asap. Captain did an amazing job.

Thanks Kelsey. I really appreciate what you do man.

Always a good idea to include pressurization equipment in instrument scan. Slow decompression is vastly more dangerous than rapid/explosive because you would have no idea what's going on, possibly until it's too late.

Having experienced hypoxia in the altitude chamber, this was the first thought that entered my mind. Truly the reactions and symptoms vary greatly. Highly recommend experiencing the chamber whenever possible

It's like I say with dispatch and tow truck drivers... Dispatch should have a mandatory year in the truck before being able to get on the other side of the microphone. Same with air traffic controllers they should have to sit in the cockpit for a year first before they can get in the tower and control the traffic. It would solve so many issues it would also key in instinct. I love this channel I also love that you wear your pilots uniform when you talk to us in the comfort of your living room.

Great sense of humor on him, kept it together enough to survive, applause 👏🏻

Reminds me of some life threatening low sugars I’ve had. There are symptoms I can recognize, behavior is a crap shoot. I feel it depends on what brain parts are working. The sugar shot ( to raise sugar ) is like waking from a dream, you can think better, become more cognizant, and start going from sounding drunk to talking normal. You notice it, too.

I work for Kalitta and only heard this audio from one other video, but I’m happy you did a video on it explaining everything.

There are only a couple really informative KZfaq channels about aviation that I’ve found. Yours is one of them and I very much enjoy watching yours. Even though I’m not a pilot, I’ve always liked aviation and wanted to thank you for sharing this content. ❤

Hey Kelsey I haven't been able to see you in a while. So glad to catch you today- always enjoy dropping in to listen to your interesting pilot situations, and wishing you well.

Until you explained the true nature of the pilot’s medical condition, I thought he had a stroke. Similar speech patterns sound almost identical. Great video and fan of the channel

You’ll find the course to be fascinating. I took a similar course courtesy the USAF at Lowry AFB in 1965, before I was a pilot, as part of AFROTC summer camp training. For the previous 4 years, I had been living at 7300’ in Laramie until only a couple weeks earlier, so I thought I could handle high altitudes better than most. At an artificial 26,000’, I learned that I could not. Simple tasks became impossible, and when they tried to put an oxygen mask on me, I became belligerent. It’s been a lot of years, but I remember the experience very vividly. Now I go on oxygen whenever I fly above 10,000’, based on what my pulse-oximeter says my O2% is-and that’s changed as I’ve gotten older, as I used to be able to fly much higher and still maintain a reasonable O2%. Hypoxia is insidious, because the victims are lulled into that sense of euphoria, that all’s well, when it isn’t. Especially a slow loss of oxygen, as opposed to a sudden decompression, is deadly, because it’s not that noticeable. You’ll do your viewers a real service if you can video your experience when you go through the chamber.

That other pilots helping everyone out is are rockstars!!! Situational awareness!

This is fascinating how even while he's euphoric and not thinking clearly, the pilot still automatically follows the controller's instructions. Even without his wits about him, the level of practice and repetition is ingrained enough to help keep him safe.

This is a really serious incident dude!! Like really!! First officer already passed out, pilot just holding on by sheer focus, this could be the next episode of National Geography's Air Crash Investigation!

Not a pilot, but recognized hypoxia almost immediately, thanks to all the great flying videos that I follow. As an ex-scuba diver not holding your breath, as mentioned in other remarks concerning rapid decompression, is something you learn very early on. Great video, as always!

Always good to see things work out.

I just watched one of your mean comments videos, and I just wanted to say I know they don't seem to really effect you but I love being able to listen to your videos. I have a long commute to work and so I often listen to one or two on the way. Puts me in a good mood before and after my day!

Being a retired F/A, I recognized right away that he wasn’t drunk. Hope you get to go to OKC and experience the “Chamber” very soon! Love your videos. Best wishes from Southern Ca. 👋🏻❤️👍✈️

I cant imagine how you as a pilot can hear this and not have chills. Just watching the video is intense

I absolutely love your videos! Knowledge can save a life.

You should do a video documenting or telling us about your hypoxia experience in the simulator when you go.

I’m so glad everyone ended up OK. We just studied about the issues pilots can face during flight in ground school. Great video, I’ll send it to my CFI!!

Kelsey, this was a great learning experience. My first thought was depressurization. But I was confused because of the fact that they hadn’t donned oxygen masks. It could have been a slow depressurization, but wouldn’t there be a warning prior to the critical point where hypoxia took over? This was perfect to make aviators and non aviators clearly see how difficult it can be. The captain did a super job of focusing on aviating, navigating and communicating even with all the difficulties.

I guessed hypoxia right away ! The A/C I received the save award for , the pilot had hypoxia. I had to talk to him like he was a child . He didn’t trust his instruments etc . Bless his heart ! He made it !

This is by far the most informative series on aviation that I have been able to find on KZfaq! I am learning a lot.