comfortabovetheclouds- with malice and forethought（comfortabovetheclouds——恶意和深谋远虑）（7页）.docVIP

Comfort above the clouds Comfort above the clouds This article is published in AAA Magazine By Rosemarie John - Despite various innovations to improve passenger comfort in 55 years of commercial jet aviation, very few individuals would describe any flight as truly relaxing and resulting in one feeling fresh as a daisy when disembarking at the destination airport. So, what gives with the new generation of jetliners – the Airbus A380 and Boeing Dreamliner 787 – which aim to bring passenger comfort even closer to this subjective standard by increasing cabin pressures to a hitherto-unheard of 5,000 feet altitudes? Comfort above the clouds ? - AAA Magazine The seasoned traveler knows all too well how daunting air travel can be. Dry, cramped conditions in an airplane make the flying experience far from comfortable and oftentimes, passengers could experience flu-like symptoms shortly after they’ve boarded the plane. The slight headaches, light-headedness, sore throats, coughing, dry lips and dry or watery eyes are in fact due to the lack of fresh air that only an aircraft cabin on modern jets can so effectively create – since BOAC inaugurated the worlds first commercial jet service on 2 May 1952. Such environmental conditions are due to the airplane’s cabin being pressurized at current international requirements set for an altitude of 8,000 feet – resulting in passengers breathing in roughly 25% less oxygen compared to sea levels. The culprit here is an increased level of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream, exacerbated by conditions of limited air supplies shared by too many people. Such an artificially-created altitude pressure in aircraft cabins also results in passengers feeling dried out at the end of a long airplane flight due to the lower humidity levels. The new passenger jets coming on-stream in the next few months promise to drastically reduce this discomfort by keeping cabin pressures at altitudes ranging between 5,000 and 6,000 feet. These altitudes a