(Rick Durden) wrote:

Evidence examined thus far indicates that the Payne Stewart crash was
decompression, but not explosive. The old Lears had some interesting
systems and according to some reports the company had not maintained
its airplanes all that well or worked off some of the squawks. Those
who have flown the old Lears can give a number of different scenarios
that would generate the gradual loss of cabin pressure that doomed the
Stewart flight.

I read the accident report and didn't see that conclusion.
The cabin altitude aural warning was on for the last 30
minutes of the flight, until it descended below the alarm
limit after one engine ran out of fuel. One would think if
it was a slow leak they would have heard the alarm and
descended or donned oxy in time. They did seem to conclude
that it was not a simple cabin breach as the windshield
icing seen by the chase flights would not have occurred if
bleed air had been supplied to the cabin.

I just didn't see any clear indication of the time scale of
the loss of pressure or whether it was explosive, sudden or
slow. The simple summary was that the cabin lost pressure
for unknown reasons, the pressurization system didn't work
(otherwise the window wouldn't have iced) and the crew
wasn't able to respond by descending or donning oxy, again
for unknown reasons.

Todd Pattist
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