Altitude Chamber

Yes. The Civil Aeromedical Institute in OKC. And, best, it's free. They do it six times per year. All you need is to sign up and show with a valid SECOND class medical. Space is limited; you get the blue card for you logbook so that all you need for hi-alt is the operational training in the ship in which you will be PIC, e.g, you Type Ride. :)
 
A fascinating and informative experience that is worth an extra effort to do. Besides the altitude chamber you'll get spacial disorientation and aeromedical training that I felt was very valuable.
 
My local air force base does it several times a year. Try calling yours.
 
At the NBAA convention last year, FlightSafety International (in conjunction with Mayo Clinic Aerospace Medicine) introduced a clever new way of training pilots to recognize hypoxia without an altitude chamber. It uses a portable system that allows the operator to feed a mix of gases to the subject, thereby creating the effects of high altitude.

You can read about it at:

http://www.ainonline.com/Publications/nbaa/NBAA_04/d1hypoxiap20.html
 
That's not innovative. You can do that with a Scuba tank carrying 10% Oxygen 90% nitrogen. Works well, but it's not QUITE the same. You don't get the chill and the cold fog upon decompression, and you don't get the eardrum/abdominal gas stuff that you get upon ascent (and descent, for that matter). If you hvaen't experienced these sensations before, when you are PIC with a real decompression, they are very distracting at a time when you have about 30 seconds to execute the plan....
 
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