What altitude is safe without oxygen?

When the altitude of an airplane is less than 12,500 feet, there is no supplemental oxygen required for anyone in a private plane. From 12,500 feet to 14,000 feet, supplemental oxygen must be used by the required flight crew for any portion of the flight that is more than 30 minutes.



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In aeronautics, hypoxia typically results from a decompression or lack of pressurisation of the aircraft cabin. Hypoxia occurs within a few minutes if the cabin pressure altitude rises to between 5,000-6,000 m (about 16,000 - 20,000 ft).

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91.119 Minimum safe altitudes; general (b) Over congested areas – Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open-air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.

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The minimum safe altitude of a route is 19,000 feet MSL and the altimeter setting is reported between 29.92 and 29.43 “Hg, the lowest usable flight level will be 195, which is the flight level equivalent of 19,500 feet MSL (minimum altitude (TBL ENR 1.7-1) plus 500 feet).

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A Flight Level (FL) is the vertical distance of an aircraft above the ISOBARIC SURFACE of 1013.25hPa (hecto Pascal) or 29.92 in Hg (inches of Mercury).

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According to USA Today, the common cruising altitude for most commercial airplanes is between 33,000 and 42,000 feet, or between about six and nearly eight miles above sea level. Typically, aircraft fly around 35,000 or 36,000 feet in the air.

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Aircraft must fly over residential areas because of the small distances between some airports and neighborhoods. Therefore, it is sometimes necessary for aircraft to fly over these residential areas in order for aircraft to safely reach the airports.

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Flying below sea level is obviously a pretty rare occurrence for a plane in good working order, so it's perhaps unsurprising that the navigation systems stopped working. The lowest airfield in North America, for the record, is Furnace Creek Airport, Death Valley at minus 210 feet below sea level.

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