"Jeff Franks" wrote in message
...

If a window blows out, everything that is not tied down will certainly
be
sucked out, and this could include people if they were small enough.

Its my understanding that in an explosive decompression like this, the
decompression will happen very fast. The Goldfinger episode goes on for
45
minutes of hanging on for dear life while the plane depressurizes. My
un-educated guess is that this would happen in seconds or less.

Witnessed the result of "Port Hole Window" on the starboard side of a C-5
blowing out during "Initial Factory Pressure checks" on a new C-5". The
window itself went through the side of a "Tin Sided Building" ~ 200' from
where the window/port hole came from. A substantial number of the
insulation/batting blankets were torn from their normal place in the cargo
bay & piled on the cargo bay floor near the opening. A large number of the
insulation blankets/bats, along with seat cushions from the upper aft troop
compartment were piled around the entrance to the stairs from the troop
compartment down to the cargo bay, plus scattered along the cargo bay floor
in the direction of the failed port hole/window. Seat cushions, mattresses
from bunks, & insulation bats/blankets from the upper front area were piled
against the exit stairs from the upper from lobe & along the cargo bay floor
toward the failed port hole/window. A few of the insulation bats/blankets
were blown out the failed port hole/window.

A/C being tested were instrumented to record/document test protocols as
appropriate. According to instrumentation on the A/C, at time of port
hole/window failure the air pressure dropped from 14.5 lbs to 0 in .003
seconds.

Factory Pressure Check on C-5's was 15 pounds, slightly over 1 atmosphere.
This was worked up to in stages. This incident occurred.
Ralph Nesbitt
Professional FD/CFR/ARFF Type