A major study has proven the safety of an essential item of inflight rations that has been missing for many years is actually safe to fly.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/03/tunnocks-tea-cakes-pass-raf-fit-to-fly-test-banned/
So, reading between the lines, did they have a food fight and then try to blame it on the effect of altitude on the cakes?
I suspect that they might have been between formal projects…
Oh indeed and it would only take an afternoon. Good on them them, a morale boost. All chamber testing if humans are involved have a couple of people inside who are staff not participating in the testing.
Been there and done that in the old chamber at Farnborough, long before IAM moved up to Henlow.
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Rode the centrifuge there. But only to 3G.
Not even - put them in a protective box (small holes to allow pressure changes), stick on the floor out of the way from aircrew hypoxia trg.
Just checked my logbook - did the initial 8K-25K hypoxia trg for basic RAF pilot trg (did a ride on the bang seat tester too, think it was ony 1/3 of a cartridge, quite a sensation!). My 3rd & 4th visit, it was 25K - 45K; we had to do 100% O2 pre-breathing for a while before to avoid nitrogen coming out in the blood (the bends).
Hypoxia symptoms were (not surprisingly) quite quick to come on at 45,000 ft with the mask off!
One of my (then 80+ yr old friends, ex-wg cdr engineer, still going strong) volunteered for a short test programme, something to do with future astronaut flying with more “senior” people being launched into space. He managed 6G quite comfortably - fun video clip to watch.
I was taking part in a civil aeromedical course, at the time the CHS at Farnborough had transferred to QinetQ. One of our course participants was a very white blond Finnish Nurse and when sat in the chamber did the usual simple tests when off oxygen. The hypoxia has quick onset and when her oxygen saturation was down to 64% the chamber monitor replaced her mask. She did go a very delicate colour of blue when off oxygen, in particular her lips and hands.
Her comment afterwards was that she felt quite dreamlike, without feeling any fear of dying.
I seem to remember thall the the groups in the chamber displayed some elements of cyanosis, some more the others.
It really was a strange sensation; during one of the 45,000 ft experiences, i was asked to draw elephants - to which I said, you wouldn’t recognise the first one, never mind subsequent ones as I became doozy! So, my task was to start with 100, & keep taking 13 away. I go to about 5 correct subtractions & then my concentration just melted away. I knew something was wrong but couldn’t pin it down; I remember getting quite frustrated at this “inability” & what I realised afterwards was greying out, tunnel vision.
However, I was able (after direction) to replace my O2 mask & then got a very warming feeling as the brain, etc, reoxygenated.
Others in the groups had very different personal symptoms - except one - he said he didn’t feel anything, but carried doing his task until he froze. He couldn’t action replacing his mask himself, nor did he remember being told to replace it.
My spies tell me it was down to the Av Med Gp Capt - so the Av Med branch are over-worked for the CFMO aspects but he can find time for this… 