The problem is they pressurize the cabins to an equivalent altitude of 8000 feet and not the pressure found at sea level. This keeps the flexing stress down on the aircraft body, especially if a high flying plane makes a lot of short hop landings. The aircraft would overly expand and contract with each landing cycle if they used full sea level pressure. The less stress the aircraft body gets, the more longevity they can get out of the airframe. I would speculate that they would have to make the body more robust if they decided to use sea level pressure (14.7 LB/sq. in). The 8000 foot specification saves carrying the additional weight that would be needed to beef up the cabin structure if they flew at high altitude with inside pressure at sea level.
Look at the bright side. If you land in Santa Fe, NM, you will already be adapted to the +7000 foot altitude!
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I was surprised at how many sites I found on the Internet when I plugged in "Cabin Pressure at 8000 feet".
It seems that this 8000 foot equivalent pressure gives problems to people who scuba dive right before a flight. Check out the sites.
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