Getting over the Rockies.

[agent0archer]

So what was the procedure in crossing mountains higher than 10,000 feet? Fly through lower situated mountain passes?

[Tom/CalClassic]

Generally, aircraft in the US flew at altitudes that did not require all passengers have an oxygen supply. Some (like Northwest) had oxygen masks for every passenger in their Lodestars, however.

The US CAA rules from 1959 for piston propliner oxygen equipment (I can't find specific rules for its use by passengers, but I assume I can infer them from these rules):

1. Flight Crew - supply and use oxygen masks for all flight above 10,000 ft.
2. Rest of crew - supply and use oxygen for flights between 10,000 and 12,000 ft in excess of 30 minutes.
3. All crew - supply and use oxygen for all flight above 12,000 ft.
4. Passengers - for flights over 30 minutes between 8,000 ft and 14,000 ft a 30 minute oxygen supply must be available for 10 percent of passengers.
5. Passengers - for flights between 14,000 ft and 15,000 ft an oxygen supply for 30 percent of passengers must be available for the duration of such flight.
6. Passengers - for flights above 15,000 ft oxygen must be supplied.

But most long distance east-west flying in the unpressurized era flew the Rockies either through Wyoming (i.e. United Air Lines) where the summit was only around 7,000 ft., or through Albuquerque (i.e. TWA), with a summit around 7500 ft. That left the DC-3s of Frontier, which I assume flew through mountain passes below 14,000 ft to get to its Colorado destinations from Denver. I don't know if Frontier used supplemental oxygen or not.
Hope this helps,

[agent0archer]

Yes, that does help. Thanks so much.

[Dennis the menace]

For a heavily loaded Starliner flying transpolar from the west coast to Europe, or a DC-7C where you're stuck at 9 to 12 thousand feet, there are several passes you must fly to due to your weight.  The first when leaving LAX is to fly to Ontario VOR and then through the Banning Pass to Palm Springs VOR towards Dagget and Boulder City.  After Boulder City you'll need to fly to the Milford VOR.  This takes you up the middle of Utah between two mountain ranges to Salt Lake City.  To get over the Rockies, you'll need to fly over Salt Lake City and then to Fort Bridger or Rock Springs Wyoming. South of that is the Wasatch, too high, and north are the Grand Tetons, again too high.  Its the only pass that you can make.  Once through there, your fine.  If you're leaving SFO, you'll need to fly north up the central valley to Redding and then turn northeast and fly to Alturas and over the California border and into Nevada.  You'll never make it over the Sierras by flying west of SFO in a loaded Starliner or 7C. Turning northeast at Redding takes you right over highway 299 and out to Nevada.  If you fail to turn, you'll be trapped by Mt Shasta to the north, and Mt Lassen and the Sierra Nevada to the south, again too high.  You'll be lucky to be at 9,000 feet passing Redding.  Once you pass Mount Lassen, pick up the VORS and head to Twin Falls, then Idaho Falls, and then up to Bozeman and then to Regina and your home free.  If you don't pass through Twin Falls, you'll be trapped by some really huge mountains to the north running way up into Alberta.

I've seen old photos of Faucett C-46s full of passengers up at 14 and 15 thousand feet or more, and the stewardess was rolling an oxygen tank up and down the aisle and whoever needed a huff and a puff was given a mouth piece with tube to the tank for a bit, and then on to the next passenger. Those stewardesses never seemed to need any oxygen. On YouTube I saw videos of people riding bikes and walking around carrying heavy loads, playing with dogs at 16 thousand feet. I went to Santa Fe NM once and Los Alamos where its perhaps 8,000 feet up, and while I was out walking around I felt fine. As soon as I set down to watch TV or eat, I was sort of gasping off and on. I took my little Miniature Pinscher dog Sophie with me and she seemed to have no effects whatsoever from the altitude.

I saw a video of an Electra landing at La Paz in the '70s and several nurses ran out with oxygen tanks to people coming off the plane. Sometimes people act drunken and can be seen stumbling around the terminal.  At most Peru and Bolivian airports at the terminal they have a box of free coca leaves to chew on. One person said Faucett gave out coca leaves for people to chew on during the flight.  Every store sells them and most people say they work better than the manufactured altitude sickness pills. They still do this to this very day. Others chew betel nuts because they say betel juice helps. You can buy betel nuts here in Arizona. I've tried them, they are kind of messy with this purple juice, and they can make you a little woozy/drunken. 

Faucett flew from Lima out to the Andes destinations leaving at the crack of dawn, and was mostly back in Lima by around noon or so. I always wondered why that was - no afternoon flights except the low altitude flights up and down the coast. On Youtube I found out why. Tour guides at Machu Picchu said that "mornings are usually clear with little winds in the Andes. But after lunch, haze and clouds move in and make visibility difficult if not impossible. Flying with FSrealweather I found out that this was indeed true. If you don't get out before noon, you'll never be able to see going through those narrow mountain passes.  They picked flying through narrow canyons in the mornings and hoped to get out before the clouds formed.  One reason for so many crashes I guess.  On the other hand, FS can be so much fun flying a poorly maintained, overloaded C-46 through the Andes with a crew stoned on betel nuts and coca leaves!  Hey, at least you won't care if you crash!

[biggiraffe]

Just now read this -- WAY cool answer to a question I hadn't even thought to wonder...
Thanks!
Kurt

[beeker46]

I cannot quote exactly, as I don't have the book handy, but Gann's "Fate is the Hunter" he tells of a time delivering Lodestars into South America and once flying over the Andes without oxygen. He saw colors of the air and the mountains he never imagined possible, while his co-pilot had entirely different reactions flying that high without oxygen. He also remembered sitting in the cockpit with his mouth gaping open like a drunken fool barely able to get enough in his lungs to keep from falling asleep. How he managed to stay awake until he could descend into lower altitudes, he could never understand. He tried that route only once, and never again...

[Bjoern]

Howard Hughes also had a run-in with hypoxia on his transcontinental speed run in 1937. I can't find the source, but all I remember is that he climbed too high due to weather, lost consciousness and only regained it shortly before hitting the ground.