"Bert Willing" wrote in
message ...
If the pressure drop is rapid, they need to exhale, otherwise their lungs
will burst. Just like surfacing in scuba diving.

I don't believe there's ever been a case of pulmonary barotrauma (absent of
prior lung pathology) from decompression in commercial aviation. The
differential between 50,000' and 8,000' is less than that typically involved
in scuba incidents. May be possible though.

moo