Piloting Cessna 208B while Pregnant

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znavy264@reddit

Sporty's has a POB tank/mask you can purchase and bring on board. I think you are responsible for filling it though, but its basically what they use as emergency equipment on passenger aircraft.

Sporty's Portable Oxygen Bottle

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No personal experience with this, but as I'm sure you're aware, the biggest risk is the brief hypoxia. Fetal hemoglobin has a higher affinity for oxygen, which provides a protective buffer by drawing oxygen efficiently from the mother's bloodstream. So you as the mother will experience hypoxia before the baby, and you'll experience it sooner than you would normally while not being pregnant. However, if the mother’s blood oxygen levels drop too low, it compromises oxygen delivery to the placenta and results in fetal hypoxia. Because of this, many aeromedical experts and military branches restrict pregnant aviators to unpressurized cabin altitudes of 10,000 feet or lower.

Can you wear a canula with oxygen set for delivery over 10,000'?

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escapingdarwin@reddit

You’re either a gasser or using AI. Just guessing. But that’s a great response.

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Anduril1123@reddit

Not AI, but I do use an oxygen concentrator or O2 tank for flying over the Rockies.

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Gravitys_Bitch@reddit (OP)

I don't think that's something I could get for this particular job. Its about a 25 minute climb to altitude and only the last 4-5 minutes are above 10k. I figured with my body being used to this I shouldn't have to worry about hypoxia, but will consult my doctor.

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quickdrawcrenshaw@reddit

Hey girl! FWIW during my pregnancies I would ask my OB but found my AME to be far more helpful with questions like this

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JimTheJerseyGuy@reddit

Yeah, but with the additional demands on your body from supporting a fetus it would be something to at least monitor, particularly as you progress in your pregnancy and the fetus' oxygen demands increase. A cheap pulseox monitor would be a good idea, I'd think

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Gravitys_Bitch@reddit (OP)

I'll buy one!

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loyolacub68@reddit

Maybe you could bring one of those oxygen cans with you to take a hit of oxygen a couple times after you pass 10,000 feet. Might be workable if you’re only up there for a brief period of time.

All these folks pointing out that women are having babies at high altitudes. Not sure that is relevant in your scenario as those women have acclimatized to those conditions over a period of dozens of years and likely have genetics backing that up as well.

The considerable amount of time you don’t spend at that altitude lends to the fact you’re not physically acclimatized to those conditions. Just because this is your profession and you’re familiar with it, don’t let that lead you into a false sense of security.

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RyzOnReddit@reddit

O2 concentrator would be the obvious high cost solution, otherwise agree if you can find a portable O2 system to borrow or rent it would be ideal to make sure you stay well oxygenated. FWIW I use O2 on basically all my long flights above 8k now and it’s a huge difference in how I feel afterwars

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Dependent_Bit7825@reddit

Bring a cheap pulse oximeter the most time you go up to 13.5. See if it goes below the mid 90's. If not, don't when worry about it.

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happyherbivore@reddit

Talk to your doctor of course, but for what it's worth the average elevation of Tibet is around 14000 ft and they're having babies there. I believe there are some papers discussing it too if you want to research them, although the changing altitude vs a constant high elevation would be a notable difference in your case.

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skintwo@reddit

This has nothing to do with it. Full time acclimation is NOT what she has.

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Goop290@reddit

Arnt they like genetically different than the test of us low landers?

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Chomp3y@reddit

I think we stopped studying the "science" of Eugenics awhile ago.

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Hour_Tour@reddit

Sorry if it's just a joke and I'm just akshuallying hard over here, but eugenics is a bunch of whacko made up ideas about who should and shouldn't have babies.

Groups of people with different backgrounds having different adaptations has nothing to do with that.

I both fear and hope I'm missing a joke.

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Mobe-E-Duck@reddit

It’s not whacko or made up it’s just brutal and evil. It actually makes perfect sense if you lack humanity and compassion.

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Hour_Tour@reddit

I mean, if your understanding of the subject is "good genes baby, bad genes no baby", sure. Ask various royal houses how practical application turns out, though.

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NotBlazeron@reddit

Studying genetics is not the same as eugenics. Being worried about doing something that could alter the DNA of your baby is also not eugenics.

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redditburner_5000@reddit

It's not eugenics. It's evolution and natural selection. That's why we're not all grey, pale-haired, and 5'7". People from The Congo are different than people from northern Canada because the most desirable traits made certain members of those groups better at living in those areas than other members of those groups. Those people caught more food, had more kids, and won more fights so their traits were passed along while less desirable traits didn't yield more kids.

Stands to reason that the people who live at high elevations and have inherited the traits that caused their ancestors to be so successful in that region are actually better at processing oxygen more efficiently that normal people.

It is science.

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geeoharee@reddit

'Eugenics is unethical' is not the same as 'everyone is identical'.

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arcusm1@reddit

Supplementary O2, Mount high with a EDS cannula set it to D5 (5000ft) you'll feel so much better and refreshed

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MarthaKingsButtplug@reddit

If you expose your unborn child to a C208 they'll probably just be painfully slow and accumulate ice at a faster rate. Nothing to be concerned about.

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Greenie302DS@reddit

Im a physician but I have particular expertise in this area. It is impossible to know the right answer, because we can’t do a study where we take 1000 pregnant women and give them brief hypoxia, 1000 who don’t, and compare the babies. So we are stuck with guessing.

Too much oxygen is bad for babies (in resuscitation of newborns we have learned this), but I don’t think that’s much of a risk with a few liters of oxygen by nasal cannula. Too little oxygen is bad, but at 12,000 feet you’re still not very hypoxic. My best guess is that it would be good to throw a nasal cannula on at 9000 feet or so just to be safe.

That being said, ask your doctor. This isn’t medical advice, just thinking out loud because it’s an interesting question.

And congratulations!

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Gravitys_Bitch@reddit (OP)

I have about 2,000 trips to altitude in the jump plane at 13k-14k. Even with my body being very used to the altitude, will it still be "mildly hypoxic" no matter what? Or is hypoxia a condition that occurs in bodies that are in conditions it's not used to dealing with?

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Unlucky_Geologist@reddit

You’ll be fine. I once took a cargo caravan to 17k to find out my hypoxia symptoms. It took around an hour to even get a symptom. My copilot did the same on the next leg and same story. At 2-5 min up there at worst you have nothing to worry about. In regards to rapid pressure change in the descent idk how that would affect your child.

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Greenie302DS@reddit

The way your body adapts to hypoxia is to create more red blood cells. People who live in Denver often have polycythemia, increased fraction of RBCs. I don’t think that brief hypoxia stimulates erythropoietin which increases your red blood cell count. I don’t think that brief hypoxia changes anything on a cellular level, either. Again, I’m speculating.

To clarify, the partial pressure of oxygen in your blood is only affected by the oxygen outside, there is nothing your body can do to adapt. It’s the hemoglobin that carries most of the oxygen, so an increase in hemoglobin or increase in red blood cells is the only thing that will affect the delivery of oxygen to the fetus. Your body, in adaptation to pregnancy, increases your blood volume in pregnancy, especially in the third trimester. It is normal to have a lower RBC count (relative the the plasma volume) in pregnancy. So I don’t think that your jump history moves the needle.

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zeropapagolf@reddit

You can get an Inogen oxygen concentrator off FB Marketplace for about $400. We use one a lot and it works great, just as good as an oxygen tank with no need for refills. Just wear a cannula with that and it will solve your hypoxia concerns. You can plug it in to the airplane's power, or it has a built-in battery.

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helloworld204@reddit

This is a ridiculous question but what about noise levels? How could that affect a pregnancy?

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Prefect_99@reddit

You don't have to use oxygen mandatorally already? If you are worried, i.e. have to ask, then why not just do it anyway?

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Gravitys_Bitch@reddit (OP)

We only need oxygen if we go above 15k for longer than 5 minutes

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Prefect_99@reddit

You're clearly worried, so why not just get some?

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TxAggieMike@reddit

Once a solution is figured out, please return and add it to the thread.

Many like me are curious, and it the answer would be a good thing to add for the Google crawl.

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Gravitys_Bitch@reddit (OP)

I love the logbook idea! I will definitely update once I figure it out!

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Suspicious_Clock2311@reddit

Start carrying a pulse oximeter and wearing it while you climb up. I doubt your doctor will have an issue with it. I would be way more concerned with the lap belt on your belly during a hard landing.

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Gravitys_Bitch@reddit (OP)

I will go buy one!

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Yuri909@reddit

Honestly, you might want to consult a flight surgeon specifically. The average medical professional understands how altitute affects the body in general but the acute aviation experience is not going to be their wheelhouse.

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Which_Material_3100@reddit

Agree. Contact AMAS

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SumerianPickaxe@reddit

Awesome username!

I would not be surprised either way if a doctor would/would not recommend supplemental oxygen. Curious if your kid(s) will have significantly more falling dreams than average though.

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JustAnotherDude1990@reddit

I mean there are women that live at high elevations while pregnant. Or that go hiking on mountains at higher elevations while pregnant as well.

I’d consult your doctor, maybe they have more input, but I’d imagine your exposure to jet fuel probably has a greater risk to you than short periods of altitude exposure. You could also wear supplemental oxygen if you wanted to, but a finger pulse oximeter can show if you’re getting to any level of oxygen saturation that is risky for short terms.

Also, hello from another jumper dumper ;) the caravan was a wonderfully easy plane to fly that is damn near pilot-proof.

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rFlyingTower@reddit

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:

I am a skydiving jump plane pilot and fly a caravan. We go up to 13,500 feet to drop jumpers off but I am only at the altitude for a few minutes at a time and then descend again.

Would love input from pilots who flew in non-pressurized aircraft while pregnant. I will talk to my doctor of course but wanted to ask here too. Hoping to be able to fly through most of my pregnancy but don't know if high altitude for short periods of time could affect the health of my baby.

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