Our monthly perusal of NTSB accident data reveals a smattering of accidents caused by hypoxia and many more that could be. We simply lack the data to know for sure, but now that you can buy a pulse oximeter for the price of a good lunch, there’s really no reason you can’t monitor your own blood oxygen saturation on flights where it’s warranted.
As we’re reporting in this article, the range and price of pulse oximeters has expanded during the past decade and with some costing as little as $13, we’re not sure how much cheaper these things can get. It wasn’t always that way, however. As recently as a decade ago, medical-grade oximeters sold for almost $700 or more than twice what the equivalent products sell for today.