this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2025
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I was on a flight to Richmond, VA, many years ago. Delayed delayed, mechanical something. We finally board and depart, and right in the middle of the climb after takeoff, the plane turns real hard and heads back to the airport. People were kind of freaked out, they weren't telling us anything.
Back in the airport, we learn that there was some issue with the cabin pressure. They thought they had fixed it, they hadn't. Eventually, they decided, "Fuck it, we're going to fly across the country in this 737 at 7000 feet." Maybe a third of the passengers got back on the plane, I was one. It was cold as fuck.
why was it cold, because they couldn't maintain an internal cabin atmosphere, including temperature?
Also, I had to look it up, but just wanted to confirm 7000 feet is much lower than typical 737 cruising altitude, which is usually 30,000 - 40,000 feet.
7000 feet is still pretty high and around where oxygen saturation decreases - could you tell any effect? I just assume they were able to still oxygenate the cabin even if they couldn't go as high 🤷♀️
No pilot or Jet mechanic but afaik the pressurisation is happening with bleed air from the turbines that is then cooled down to comfortable levels. So there is no "heater" for the cabin so to speak as for a warmer cabin you just cool down the bleed air less. As such without pressurisation there is also no cabin heat.
You just casually knew that offhand, and it's not even your industry??
I am weirdly nerdy about planes. Always wanted to be a pilot as a kid.
prolly went down a wikipedia rabbit hole or something