The Technology That Helped Vastly Reduce The Rate of Plane Crashes
Air travel used to be a lot rougher
If you have ever felt your ears pop while riding on a plane, you are experiencing the air pressure in the cabin changing. Modern commercial jets cruise at altitudes between 34,000 and 42,000 feet. Without oxygen and artificial warmth, those altitudes are fatal for the human body. (Anyone who has summited Mount Everest can attest to that.) To counteract the lack of oxygen and air pressure at such altitudes, airplane cabins are artificially pressurized. The reason you still feel your ears pop is that the cabin pressure is actually much lower than the ground, but it is not as low as it would be if it wasn’t pressurized at all.
Cabin pressurization is so mainstream today that most people don’t realize that advanced mechanical systems are working behind the scenes to keep the cabin comfortable and full of breathable air. Only when decompression happens (which it does from time to time) do people become acutely aware of what is going on.
Cabin pressurization helps keep people alive and comfortable during long, high-altitude flights, but these pressurization systems have also helped to greatly reduce the number and frequency of fatal airline crashes.
