Question about being unpressurized at higher (Class A) altitudes

On Sep 13, 9:59 am, John wrote:
On Sep 13, 9:47 am, es330td wrote:

My father has a C182 in which I have been to about 10K ft MSL. I am
currently working on my license and am considering building a Velocity
or Aerocanard, both of which have ceilings up into Class A airspace,
one as high as FL250. (Before anyone cautions me about building one
of these, I know two people with Velocities and a local builder who
has built multiple canard aircraft. I will have lots of support and
will have logged PIC time in one long before mine is built.) While I
know that oxygen is required at altitude, what is the effect of the
lower pressure on pilot and passengers? I am doing this in part for
the purpose of transporting myself and family to visit friends and
relatives and am curious about the effect on my two children,
currently 3 and 5, and whether this will make them less pleasant to
fly with.

TIA

I am not at all sure if this is accurate, but Ernie Gann in his book
"Fate is the Hunter" described an episode where he was carrying troops
in the back and they were getting a bit out of hand. He climbed and
the reduced oxygen resulted in a cabin of slumbering souls. Two
caveats: I am not sure . . . but alcohol may have played a role in
the story and . . . my experience with high altitude unpressurized
flight is that by the time I get back to the ground, I have a headache
that would make most migranes blush. Obviously, not everyone has the
same experience.

I've done this with my boys. However, I usually raise them to about
12K, not 22K to make them sleep. I've also spoken with C5 pilots who
do the same fro the troops in the back when they get worked up.
However, we're talking about 12Kish, not 22K.

_Robert