Jon

I have friends who were hit in the pressurized cockpit of fighters and
experienced explosive decompression. Of course they were wearing their
masks and unless the hit made the plane un flyable they just returned
to base and landed.

Another example of explosive decompression was the British "Comet' Jet
Transport. The fuselage exploded and everything went to flight
altitude pressure. Of course the damage to the aircraft made it un
flyable so it crashed.

A current model transport I have heard about was the 737 out of Hawaii
a few years ago. Cabin blew out (due to corrosion) and a 'stew' was
lost (not strapped in). They flew the bird back and landed it with a
10 foot by 10 foot hole in the fuselage.

Probably some other instances but not hitting on all since my return
from FL and Xmas visit with my family.

Big John

In altitude chamber, when they demo the explosive decompression, there
is no ear problem as the air in the inner ear is blown out and goes to
the higher altitude (lower air pressure). The other way, on descent,
if you have an infection or blockage in the ear/sinus you can get
blockage very easy. You should remember that you have to clear your
ears on a normal descent for landing from cruising cabin pressure
altitude on a commercial jet (that's going from a lower pressure to a
higher pressure).

HAPPY NEW YEARS TO ALL


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Have any of you experienced an actual explosive decompression while in
flight?

Jon