Steve VarsanoFounder at The Jet Business

The effects of cabin altitude and what causes it.

Name: The effects of cabin altitude and what causes it.
Uploaded: 2024-11-12T16:13:42+00:00
Duration: 54 s
Channel: Steve Varsano
Description: In this explanatory video, the speaker outlines how cabin pressure creates a perceived altitude—known as cabin altitude—that is significantly lower than…

12 Nov 2024 · 1 min

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In this explanatory video, the speaker outlines how cabin pressure creates a perceived altitude—known as cabin altitude—that is significantly lower than the aircraft's cruising altitude. At typical commercial flight levels of 35,000–37,000 ft, passengers experience a cabin altitude of roughly 6,500–8,000 ft, which can cause dehydration, reduced oxygen saturation, sleep disturbances, and a feeling of general malaise often labeled as jet lag. The speaker emphasizes that consuming alcohol at these pressures worsens altitude sickness. By contrast, corporate jets maintain a lower cabin altitude around 3,000 ft, providing a more comfortable environment for the body. The overall message warns viewers that cabin altitude, not just time‑zone changes, is a primary driver of the uncomfortable symptoms experienced during air travel.

Chapters

The combination of alcohol and altitude is a terrible combination and you start getting altitude sickness and you can't sleep and you wake up in the middle of the night and you just really feel like crap. This is what cabin altitude is, cabin pressure altitude. This is the altitude that your body feels that you're flying at. When the airlines are flying at say 35,000 or 37,000 feet, your body feels that it's flying at 6,500 or 8,000 feet. This is a terrible place for the body to be at any short time period. If you're going up to that altitude, spending 5, 6, 8 hours on it and coming down, Your body is really not feeling very well. You get dehydrated, you're not getting the right oxygen levels, you feel bad. This is what people usually call jet lag. It comes from obviously time changing, but the real problem with the body is cabin altitude. When you're on a corporate jet, the cabin altitude is really down to 3,000 feet. It's really where your body actually feels the difference between sea level and anything above sea level.