First passenger crossing the Atlantic
I wonder what that must have been like, crossing the Atlantic in one of those old, rickety planes. Although back then, they weren’t old, but state of the art, of course. But so were ocean clippers, viking boats and pretty much all vehicles at their time. We tend to romanticize the thrill and adventure of traveling back in the day. But, as much as economy class sucks, I sure prefer traveling like a peasant today to traveling like a king, even a couple of centuries ago. I’d take sitting in an air-conditioned cabin on a cushioned seat, eating warm food and watching a movie to being rattled around in a lushly decorated carriage any day!
Stef,
Must be difficult to draw a perfect circle or oval freehand?
Or were you having a “bad wheel day”??
Never mind, keep up the good work.
I am having at least two laughs a week!
I don’t know about that. The only replacement for the DC-3 is another DC-3. At 10,000 ft you won’t even notice the lack of air conditioning.
@merijn: come on, this is just to underline the antiquity of the plane. Appreciate the artists liberty and the way it is applied!
@Johsua: sorry, but that might depend on the person. More than one of my friends wouldn’t survive 10000 unpressurised on many days.
@Stef&Mike: this Mr. Levine must have been Jewish, there’s a (kind of) klezmer song titled “Levine with your flying machine”, I think it was performed and perhaps even recorded by New York klezmer band “Capelye”.
@jan olieslagers 10,000 ft actually isn’t that high. Most commercial airliners only pressurize to about 8,000-10,000 ft anyway and oxygen isn’t required for pax until 15,000 ft. I seriously doubt you would notice any hypoxic affects. And even if you did you still wouldn’t notice the lack of air conditioning! 🙂
Actually, Johsua, I’ve read articles about healthy adults who have been affected by the thin air as low as 8,000 ft. “The air is rare up there,” indeed.
Even if it’s not that much, if I were to finally start flying, and do so at altitude, it would be my intention to at least have an O2 bottle on board that I would routinely use.
Many cabins in airliners are pressurized slightly low for various reasons. I’ve even heard rumors that pilots with unruly passengers will intentionally reduce pressurization in the cabin to encourage wayward souls to take more naps. Also, the difference between internal pressure and external pressure can stress airframes, but that’s going off-topic.
@Yawnitz I didn’t say it wouldn’t have an affect. I pointed out that 10,000 ft actually isn’t much different than what you would expect on an airliner so the experience on a DC-3 and a 737 actually isn’t that different in terms of O2 levels.
You build a tolerance to altitude by exposure. Not allowing your system to acclimate is actually a very bad idea. I recommend taking ride in an altitude chamber if you are nervous about it.
Hey guys, stop smoking (as it doesn’t help to breathe in altitude). Before stupid easa rules, we were allowed to fly up to FL125 without oxygen and I did it several times without problem. Actually, as it is safer to keep away from the rocks, I even shut mode C off and climbed up to fl145 to overfly l’aiguille du midi (3800m, roughly the FL125), near mt blanc.
Hey guys, you should stop smoking (as it doesn’t help to breathe in altitude). Before stupid easa rules, we were allowed to fly up to FL125 without oxygen and I did it several times without problem. Actually, as it is safer to keep away from the rocks, I even shut mode C off and climbed up to fl145 to overfly l’aiguille du midi (3800m, roughly the FL125), near mt blanc.