Surgeons have only recently moved to using FFP3 masks. A bit of micropore tape either side of your nose can stop glasses fogging. It does impede communication and after 3-4 hours in an FFP3 mask you can certainly feel the fatigue setting in, in a way that you wouldn’t with just a surgical mask.
I wouldn’t want to fly as PIC in a mask, myself. As a student it would be OK.
If I was having life changing spectacularly demanding and technical surgery I’d expect the surgeon and all his team to be wearing masks.
I wouldn’t for a minute consider that it will impede their performance.
I now wear a mask for upto 8 hrs a day at work.
I’ve used ladders, steps, cherry-pickers, Drills and worked on Live equipment.
I’ve flown with a mask as has a Pax both of us left the mic outside the mask and I genuinely couldn’t notice any difference.
If I was wearing glasses regularly I would drop by a motorcycle shop and pick up one of the dozens of varieties of anti fog, and just treat them with that before the flight.
I did wonder about the $400 MH one, but it has an exhaust port so everything exhaled comes straight out. Probably there is some catching of droplets… Also it isn’t full-flow; the oxygen is only supplementary.
The solution is obvious:
Fly with a fullface oxygen mask all the time.
Masks are dangerous! I fell flat on my face walking out to the aircraft as I failed to see a small kerb due to fogged glasses.
Cttime wrote:
Safety issue as my headset won’t work properly with a mask on.
How so ??
Haven’t instructed with a mask and won’t… Safety issue as my headset won’t work properly with a mask on.
Any anti-surfactant would. There’s a bunch of anti-fogging products made specifically for divers, the advantage of spit is that you don’t need to remember to carry it around, and it’s non-irritant.
tmo wrote:
Would a hydrophobic layer such as Rain-X work?
It helps – as does normal soap. But as any scuba diver will confirm: Spit is still the best (and you always have it with you ;-) )
