Just as the OP asks.
A Cessna 172 has a service ceiling way above, say, Denver - I think it’s in the order of 12 to 14 thousand feet. If I were to fly around in one at 10,000 feet, would I become prone to altitude sickness, the sort of aches and pains a person unused to high altitudes often gets visiting high-altitude cities?
Can only answer the first question - no, it is not pressurised. Cabin pressure will be the same as outside the plane.
Ascending to 10,000 feet without acclimatising could have unfortunate outcomes. Dizziness, drowsiness, disorientation and possible fainting are not things you want happening to you when you are piloting a plane. With additional oxygen at ambient pressure, risks would be controlled.
Very few piston-engined general aviation aircraft are pressurized. I can’t actually even think of one right now. It’s not until you get into turboprops that pressurization becomes likely. What’s more common is supplemental oxygen delivered via mask or cannula. The FAA rules go like this:
No, it is not pressurized.
If you are not accustomed to a particular altitude and you flew a C-172 to that altitude yes, you’d show any symptoms you’d show standing on a mountain at that altitude.
There is oxygen equipment that can be rented by small airplane pilots and passengers and is used to offset the problems of flying at altitudes the occupants of the aircraft are not acclimated to. It doesn’t prevent all problems.
Altitude sickness (for me anyway, and, no, I don’t have a cite) is greatly affected by your level of exertion. If I’m exercising at altitude (hiking, skiing), altitude sickness does affect me. However, if I drive to 11,000 and don’t exert myself, I have no problems.
The same goes for flying. I used to live and fly in the northern part of Arizona. On several flights I’d be flying at 10,500 feet (in a 172, no less) with no problems or noticeable effects. Of course, everyone is different. But most people shouldn’t have any problems at 10,000 feet. (IMHO)
J.
I once flew in an unpressurized cabin from Malaysia to a nearby island, Tioman (Tioman Island - Wikipedia). I picked up some type of sinus issue in Malaysia that week, and seriously thought my head was going to explode on the flight. Never experienced pain like that in my entire life. That was somewhere between 7,500 and 10,000 feet.
You can drive this high up Mount Evans, no oxygen required. Opens again on Friday, May 25.
It’s very unlikely that you’d suffer any ill effects unless you had some medical condition that affected your circulation. When you fly in an airliner the cabin is typically pressurised to around 8000 feet above sea level and the vast majority of people suffer no effects at all.
You would probably have suffered just as much if you were in a pressurised cabin descending from 30,000’. The only real difference between a descent in a pressurised cabin from airline altitudes and a descent in an unpressurised cabin from 7500-10000 is that the rate of descent in the pressurised cabin is a bit lower. In mild cases of sinus congestion that might give you more time to clear your head, but when it’s bad it doesn’t make a difference.
None in production, but there are pressurized Beech Barons and Cessna 210’s aplenty out there.
FWIW, scuba divers are warned about flying right after diving. Some people have gotten the bends that way who’d have been fine if they’d stayed on the ground.
I live at 5000 feet, and have hiked to the top a peak of 12,000 feet. I experienced light-headedness, impaired decsion-making skills, and a strange sense of exuberance.
(But then again, I did have my customary double-shot of Wild Turkey and a cigarette at the top.)
Yeah, most healthy people will not experience any effects at 10,000 feet if they are just sitting in an airplane cockpit. Exertion is a different story.
The FAA rules allow you to fly under 12,500 indefinitely without supplemental oxygen, for 30 minutes between 12,500 and 14,000, and not at all above 14,000. This seems pretty reasonable from my personal experience. Obviously, flying for three hours at 12,400 feet is not within the spirit of the law, and if you have some kind of health problem, your personal thresholds will be lower.
I have actually been at 18,000 feet as a passenger in an unpressurized Cessna for about 2 hours. The pilot had supplemental oxygen, as required by law, but I did not (my own airplane broke down in a remote location and I was hitching a ride). I definitely got a headache and noticed a slight dullness in my thinking, but that was it.
Incidentally, the Piper Mirage is a currently produced, certified, pressurized piston single - currently the only one as far as I know. The Diamond DA50 is the only other one I know of on the horizon, but it is not yet in production.
There are a number of high-performance piston-powered kit planes that can be built pressurized as well, but they don’t count for much.
I routinely fly at (and above) those altitudes in a Cessna 182. We use oximeters to track our oxygen saturation level. It seems that age is one of the main factors in how well you manage at those altitudes. A frequent travel companion is 6 years older than me (I’m 55), and his levels track about 5-7% below mine. If you’re young, 10,000 feet shouldn’t be a problem. At my age, I generally go on oxygen above 10K, while my 22 yr-old son doesn’t seem to need it at all (only uses it when legally required).
Unless you have a sinus condition or have been diving, there should no aches or pains associated with the high altitude.
Just to round-out the story, a few days later I left Tioman (same plane, same pain) landing in Kuala Lumpur. Then immediately jumped on to a 747-400 to fly to Seoul and felt absolutely fine during ascent and descent. (Admittedly, I was expecting the same level of pain on the jumbo, but felt none.)
Different day slightly different symptoms. I’ve felt excruciating sinus pain on descent in an airliner and my girlfriend blew a hole in her eardrum on descent in an airliner.
What sort of aeroplane was it, do you know?
Johnny: Oh its a big pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the window and wheels. It looks like a big tylenol.
It was an Embraer, a smaller one, one row of seats on each side. Two engines with propellers, and the entry/exit door was very close to one of the propellers. On Tioman, the pilot would kill the engine nearest the door so people could safely disembark/re-embark. Once re-loading was done the pilot would fire up the engine again and seemingly go to full throttle while holding the aircraft against the wheel brakes. When the brakes released the plane left pretty quickly and seemed to b-a-r-e-l-y clear the treetops at the end of the runway. I watched this numerous times while sitting in the “lobby” of Tioman"airport" (e.g. a canopy with a few benches).
Sounds like a short field take off to me. They can be fun for the pilots, scary for the tourists.
The smallest Embraer is the EMB110 Bandeirante. It has both pressurised and unpressurised versions. Are you sure it wasn’t pressurised?
Edit: Provided the crew and/or company aren’t a bunch of cowboys they would’ve been able to take-off from that runway, have an engine failure just as they leave the ground, and still be able to climb away from the trees.
