jnava121

I was flying back from KOA ( hawaii) to LAX with Delta on an older model 757. There wasn't even adjustable air vents (individual ones that blow on the each seat).

Anyways I was reading that the pilot controls the rate of airflow into the cabin which thus affects the cabin pressure , most flights like this would be pressurized to around 7-8k feet ? correct?


So if the pilot doesn't do this correctly can you get sick from that? Lot of the people on the plane looked sickly and seems like me and my friend were both sick after the plane ride. I had a little of altitude sickness symptoms. (of course 2 days before that i was up at Mauna Kea summit 13,700 ft ) maybe that threw me off.


Thanks!

Jetjok

I don't know about the 757, but most large aircraft use an automatic system that keeps the cabin at a "reasonable" level or altitude. I assume the 757 is the same. The pilot doesn't control, under normal circumstances, the cabin altitude.

JJ

TurnAndBurn

Cabin pressure is usually handled automatically via two redundant controllers. The aircraft can still be dispatched with both controllers inop and the pilot would then open/close the outflow valves to follow a published cabin alt. profile based on actual aircraft altitude and differential pressure.

⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

On the aircraft you flew (and most other aircraft) the pilot simply sets the field elevation of the airport the airplane will be flying to (LAX) and the rest is controlled automatically... It is possible to do it manually but you'd only do it if both of the automatic controllers were to fail.

Also, if the cabin pressurization were to fail, the pilots would be getting all kinds of bells and whistles in the cockpit and would probably need to descend the aircraft to a much lower altitude....

If you were cruising at lets say 40,000 feet (or Flight level 400 as we’d say) your body was experiencing an altitude of approximately 8,000 feet. Usually no big deal for the vast majority of people; now people who smoke heavily, are in very bad shape or have lung diseases are more sensitive than others and they might experience lightheadedness, nausea, etc.


You were all probably suffering from the infamous Hawaiian "Too-Illness" - too much good food, too many Mai-Tais, etc...

Piak

There is no chance you were not feeling well due to pilot action or inaction with the pressurization system.

edit - Diving deep and then flying may contribute to illness rather than a trek to altitude- edit


Heavy smokers and people in poor physical health are used to less oxygen than their non-smoking and exercising counterparts so somewhat surprisingly they do better in a low oxygen environment.

Cubdriver

That sure isn't what I have read on the subject. Any refs on that? All the info I have ever read on the subject holds that smokers are unable to cope with thin air, and may need supplemental oxygen earlier than their healthier counterparts. You're thinking about Himalayan Sherpas or something. Smokers have ruined much of their lung capacity and cannot get as much oxygen out of what's left in there.

maximilian2

I took a flight physiology class from a flight physician and I was under the impression that smoking and people that are not in shape are more suseptible to hypoxia symptoms. I would imagine the CO and chemicals from smokes would act the same as mild CO poisioning, and locically speaking if people were used to less oxygen getting to their organs (brain) from these conditions wouldnt even less oxygen effect them worse? I am no doc so I am far from a valid reference but that is just what I recall. Also our flight doc said that some people are more suseptible to the symptoms than other with no particular reason.

whatthe6789

Everything that I remember on this is that smoking damages the lung's ability to take the O2 out of the air, say you only get 80% for argument's sake. Then when you go up to 8,000', it is really like you are at around 12,000' because that is the comparable amount of O2 that your lungs can use...

rickair7777

This is 100% incorrect.

I might buy that they have physiologically adapted to less O2 in their blood in their normal environment. However...smokers and unfit people are less efficient at metabolizing the O2 available in the air they breathe. This means that as O2 partial pressure drops, the unfit people suffer a larger drop in blood O2 than the rest of us.

Every occupation which involves physical activity at high elevation (or unusual partial pressures) places a premium on fitness (and not smoking) for good reason.

rickair7777

For the original poster, like the others said, cabin altitude is automatically controlled and is normally 4-5K feet (short flights) on up to 7-8K for long haul flights. Alarms go off between 8-10K, and the passenger O2 masks deploy automatically at 14K. Most folks would need to be well above 10K to feel sick while sitting down.

Also the pilots do not have a separate pressurization system...if you were sick, they would be too. Unless they were both high-altitude ultra-marathon runners or extreme mountain climbers.