Cabin Pressure Monitors Notify Pilots to Save Lives

Typical cruising altitudes for business and commercial aircraft are up to 50,000 feet or more. Occupants could not survive in this environment without pressure inside the aircraft being controlled to maintain oxygen concentrations consistent with those at lower altitudes. A cabin pressure warning system typically lets pilots and crews know when pressure becomes dangerously low, but these can malfunction or be accidentally switched off. The result can be insidious and deadly, as those on the plane become slowly incapacitated by hypoxia — oxygen deprivation — without being aware of it.