... Explosive Decompression....

"Sean Malloy" wrote in message
...
John Mullen wrote:
provides an interesting data point here. A BAC 1-11 lost its windscreen
in flight and the copilot landed it with the captain hanging out the
window when he was sucked halfway out. A steward hung onto the captain's
legs, saving his life.

It involved lower airspeeds, but if you do some digging, you can find
pictures of a B-17 that encountered flak over Germany in WWII and flew
back to England after taking a hit that blew off the entire front of
the plane forward of the navigator's dome... you would assume that
we've learned something about producing airframes that could survive
minor damage since then...


Of course the B-17 wasnt pressurised and the load on a windshield when
you have even a 5 psi diff pressure adds up to an impressive load.

Keith

"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...

"Sean Malloy" wrote in message
...
John Mullen wrote:
provides an interesting data point here. A BAC 1-11 lost its windscreen
in flight and the copilot landed it with the captain hanging out the
window when he was sucked halfway out. A steward hung onto the
captain's
legs, saving his life.

It involved lower airspeeds, but if you do some digging, you can find
pictures of a B-17 that encountered flak over Germany in WWII and flew
back to England after taking a hit that blew off the entire front of
the plane forward of the navigator's dome... you would assume that
we've learned something about producing airframes that could survive
minor damage since then...


Of course the B-17 wasnt pressurised and the load on a windshield when
you have even a 5 psi diff pressure adds up to an impressive load.

Yep. A better example would have been the B-29 gunner who was sucked out
when his blister blew--there is a photo of him, taken from another aircraft,
dangling outside in the slipstream, held in place by his seat harness or
partially deployed parachute (can't recall which). IIRC he survived the
ordeal.

Brooks


Keith

My impression of the B-17 is that no plane was ever built that could
survive more significant damage.

Whenever I fly a jetliner--Boeing for choice--I assume that there's a
little bit of B-17 in there.

a B-17 that encountered flak over Germany in WWII and flew
back to England after taking a hit that blew off the entire front of
the plane forward of the navigator's dome... you would assume that
we've learned something about producing airframes that could survive
minor damage since then...

all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com