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No oxygen needed under 10,000. You can operate for 3 hours at 15,000 with no oxygen. Above that point you need to look for an oxygen mask pretty quickly.

I'm sure it is different in a plane but I have hiked at nearly 15,000' (Mt. Whitney) with no oxygen and often fish lakes at 10,000' while smoking a cigar.

89 posted on 09/25/2007 6:02:51 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono (If you don't want people to get your goat, don't tell them where it's tied.)

My experience is based on training at the aviation survival school before I had to fly on aircraft that can be operated with direct vents to the atmosphere. Our hypobaric chamber training including a zero to 25,000 climb with a requirement to put on the emergency oxygen masks. The "demand" valve on those things makes inhaling a chore. The training staff collected all the pens and PDAs so we wouldn't have broken glass and ink squirting all over the place. People with fillings were warned that they might explode if there is any air trapped inside. Fortunately, the training completed without problems.