Farting at high altitude
Posted by TheGonkDroid@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 59 comments
Honestly curious, does anyone else get gassy at high cabin altitude? Whenever I do flights in a non pressurized cabin above like 8000 feet I get bad gas lol. Just me? Thankfully you can't smell well that high.
Comprehensive_Film42@reddit
Just when i eat dairy, almost as bad as flying into tilamook
spacecadet2399@reddit
Your stomach and intestines are basically like a bag of chips up there, and they blow up just like the chip bags do.
I have to *really* watch what I eat and drink up there. I'm a soda guy and if it's free and available I will go crazy with it until some kind of a problem occurs. And it always does. I didn't think soda could make you fart, I thought it only made you burp, but boy was I wrong about that. It makes it come out both ends.
I don't even really know what foods make me gassy but I know that after certain meals, I can barely sit up straight because my whole abdominal area is like a balloon that's about to pop. I have to lean way back in my seat until the air naturally escapes.
I try to be discrete about it. Luckily the A320 has many, many vents and fans in the cockpit. I will turn the one in front of me on full blast and have it blowing right at my seat. I'm sure the captain knows sometimes, but I'm also pretty sure he doesn't most of the time. If I need to let out a particularly big one, I can always wait until I hear the lav door close and then blame it on that. In the A320, the air from the forward lav does actually leak into the cockpit. So if someone drops a particularly ripe one in there, we're gonna know it. Makes for a convenient excuse sometimes.
beepbeepimmmajeep@reddit
Yep. Big briefing point in the hypobaric chamber to equalize the pressure on the way up.
AccomplishedString12@reddit
Boyle’s Law my guy
Trubester88@reddit
It’s called Boyles Law, as you increase in altitude, the pressure decreases, allowing air to expand.
Dry_Statistician_688@reddit
lol, try going through chamber training. It gets pretty rank at 25,000 ft.
rjornd@reddit
I believe it’s more like expelling exhaust gases than farting.
Mean-Selection-9599@reddit
Trust me bud….. when those poo particles hit the ol nostrils, your sense of smell is still at 100
Terrific_Paint_801@reddit
Dude… I’m gassy at ANY altitude!!!
gbchaosmaster@reddit
Pressure gradient force in action
Admirable-Strike-311@reddit
It’s called the “Alti-toots.” Also happens to mountaineers and others who hike/camp at higher elevations.
No-Version-1924@reddit
Gasses trapped within your body remain at the same pressure, while the air pressure outside of your body decreases, and there's a natural tendency for pressure to equalise.
kponnor@reddit
We call them the 'alti-tooties'. I'll see myself out now....
Bradyj23@reddit
I took a ride in an altitude chamber in college. The doc told us that it hurts more to expand your colon than it does to cut them. So just let it rip. Everybody is going to do it. The guys had more fun with it than the ladies.
Kartoon67@reddit
I used to fly skydivers and we had one guy that we nicknamed "The Altimeter"
Without fail he would rip a nasty one at 8000'
f14_pilot@reddit
Hahahahahahaa
Drishal_MAC2@reddit
This made me laugh more than it should aha 🤣
LaserRanger_McStebb@reddit
I wouldn't be a very good altimeter because I'm down here at 800 MSL farting all day long.
Clemen11@reddit
His pressure cap would blow at manufacturer's specifications
TheBurningTankman@reddit
The key is to be like a VSI, leak at a controlled rate
AutomaticClick1387@reddit
Maybe during a rapid decompression lol.
Spib698@reddit
I’m gassy when I’m awake, and apparently when I’m asleep, per my wife.
1fastghost@reddit
Boyle's law applies to us all
DoomWad@reddit
Most airliners are around 8000 ft cabin altitude, so it would feel the same. And yep... If the seat cushions up in the cockpit could talk, they'd need therapy.
EsquireRed@reddit
Hey, the way I see it, I'm just warming it up for the next guy flying the plane after me :)
Mac_Av8r@reddit
Fortunately, the outflow valve is located on the aft pressure bulkhead!
bd_whitt@reddit
I have retrograde cricopharyngeus dysfunction (R-CPD). AKA I can’t burp. Been that way since infancy.
Let’s just say, it can only come out of one end and when I get to altitude…in the words of shrek “better out than in”
But I am respectful of my crewmates and try to at least go to the lav or open up some vents 😂
Taptrick@reddit
Trapped gases. Totally normal.
Bearjawdesigns@reddit
Boyle’s Law.
GrabtharsHumber@reddit
When I did high altitude physiology training at the Beale AFB chamber, it was like a gale blowing through my butt. They warn you to avoid gassy foods beforehand, the which I did, but it was still quite the fartapalooza.
transportationguy2@reddit
Bad day to be a seat cushion when I walk in the flight deck
flyingforfun3@reddit
My first ever flight went awesome. I think we hit 4000ft. After landing, I felt like I was going to explode with gas. I get in my car and let out a 60 second fart. If I don’t fly for awhile, it happens to me. But if I’m staying busy with work, I don’t deal with it.
Only-Requirement@reddit
As others have said, yes boyle's law, but also this is a medical phenomenon known as HAFE-- High Altitude Flatus Explosion. Not to be confused with other and more clinically significant high altitude syndromesHACE, HAPE, or AMS.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23891043/
Firefighter_RN@reddit
Auerbach who's a bit of a joker wrote and published an actual paper on this and named it HAFE (high altitude flatus expulsion).
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1272559/
AndyLorentz@reddit
Ha! Much less concerning than HAPE or HACE
MT0761@reddit
Google "Boyle's Law" and you'll know why it's happening...
SeeMarkFly@reddit
I am a hang glider pilot. We all meet in the landing zone (LZ) and pile in my car to go up the mountain. My dog would start to fart about halfway up the hill. A black Labrador named Devil. They were named "Devil Farts".
dropthebiscuit99@reddit
Thanks for the lol. Question, how did the dog get back down the mountain? Tell me someone flew him.
Final-Muscle-7196@reddit
Just hope you don’t have that daunting question “I think it’s gas” …. Then realizing your changing your lesson to diversions
Reasonable_Blood6959@reddit
It’s exactly the same process as your ears popping. Pressure wants to equalise.
Holding farts in can cause pain so bad you can pass out.
Let em rip
sasben@reddit
It’s just a seat warmer, particularly in the Northeast winters in a piston
One-Sundae-2711@reddit
asses are poppin when ears start poppin
EliteEthos@reddit
I get gassy at all altitudes…
YMMV
pjlaniboys@reddit
Before the hypoxia training in the altitude chamber we all hit the Mexican restaurant for lunch. Let’em rip boys.
Potential-Elephant73@reddit
I haven't flown unpressurized over 5000' yet, but it makes sense based on physics.
Magma86@reddit
Boyles Law
DudeIBangedUrMom@reddit
Clearly you've never been to the altitude chamber.
detailsAtEleven@reddit
It was one of the unequivocal pleasures of flying front seat in tandem seat aircraft.
earleakin@reddit
Friend of mine tells his passengers they're flying through a sulfur cloud and they believe it.
eagleace21@reddit
I mean high level it makes sense, gasses under pressure in your body will increase as the external pressure decreases, similar to how a balloon released expands until it pops as it ascends.
cottonheadedninnymug@reddit
I'm pretty sure if you do one of those hypobaric chamber experiences they tell you to fart if you have to for this reason. Not that you'll pop, but it could get painful.
Just_Another_Pilot@reddit
They were very clear about it during HAATS training.
One guy in our group thought it would be funny to hold it in and let out one massive fart at the end. He ended up getting trapped gas and falling out of his seat from the pain, earning the nickname brown-out.
nimbusgb@reddit
I regularly get into the 20000' range in wave in a single seat, unpressurised sailplane.
It's a damned good job its a single seater!
meetgeorgejetson10@reddit
“Don’t be a hero, pass that gas” Old USAF video, probably.
capn_starsky@reddit
Maybe YOU can’t smell well at altitude, I guarantee you that the other pilot isn’t gonna just ignore you busting ass without you at least acknowledging it. Yes, I also let em rip more up there.
silverfstop@reddit
Dude the entire commercial aircraft farts when you hit the flight levels.
Squinty_the_artist@reddit
Don’t tell my CFI but I’ve definitely opened up a cabin vent to allow myself to vent.
ASELtoATP@reddit
Radiolab did a podcast that covered this. People fart more in higher differential pressure. You’re not weird.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Honestly curious, does anyone else get gassy at high cabin altitude? Whenever I do flights in a non pressurized cabin above like 8000 feet I get bad gas lol. Just me? Thankfully you can't smell well that high.
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