Flying Lesson No. Six

Prayer is Our Spiritual Oxygen

Hypoxia ‑Hypoxia is a shortage of oxygen in the body. In aviation hypoxia is caused by the oxygen system in the aircraft malfunctioning. Hypoxia is often hard to recognize because the symptoms can be subtle in the beginning and by the time they are noticeable the pilot's judgment and/or coordination can be seriously impaired and he may not be able to take corrective action.

Because the signs and symptoms of hypoxia can be different for every person, military pilots are taught to recognize the symptoms of hypoxia by personally experiencing it. Every other year we were trained in an altitude chamber that is designed to cause hypoxia in a controlled environment. In the altitude chamber a pilot experiences his personal symptoms of hypoxia so that he is able to recognize them if they begin. Symptoms include demonstrating poor judgment and coordination, fatigue, visual impairment or even euphoria.

A four hour flight with everyone dead ‑In 1999, a private jet filed a flight plan between Orlando, Florida and Dallas, Texas. Early in the flight, the aircraft was cruising at 35,000 feet on autopilot and gradually lost cabin pressure. No one noticed the problem and a result, all on board became incapacitated and died of hypoxia. After everyone died  the aircraft continued its flight over the southern and mid‑western United States for almost four hours and 1,500 miles until it ran out of fuel and crashed into a field in South Dakota. Golf star Payne Stewart was one of the six people in the aircraft.

Lesson for Life ‑ If we neglect our prayers we start to experience spiritual hypoxia which results in poor spiritual coordination and judgment. This can easily lead to spiritual incapacitation and even spiritual death. Fortunately, spiritual hypoxia can be cured. We get spiritual oxygen flowing through humble and sincere prayer.

If we remember that God is our Father and we are his children, then prayer becomes natural for us.  People become uncomfortable with prayer when they forget their relationship to their Father.  We need to remember that it is the Holy Ghost that prompts us to pray and that it is Satan who hopes that we do not pray.

Testimony of Prayer  - We are told “that we must pray always, and not faint.”  (2 Nephi 32:9)  I wondered what this verse meant.  Then it came to me:  We “pray always” when we truly seek to do the will of our Heavenly Father at all times.  To “not faint” is to focus on our prayer not tiring or becoming distracted.  “Prayer is the Soul’s Sincere Desire” (Hymn p. 145).  It is truly our spiritual oxygen.