Mythbusters Explosive Decompression Experiment

Now, that was cool!

Mythbusters pressurized an old DC-9 and fired a bullet through the wall to
see if it would cause an explosive decompression. It didn't. Then they fired
a bullet through the window to see if the window would shatter and cause an
explosive decompression. The bullet only made a small hole in the window
because the windows are made of shatter-proof plastic. No explosive
decompression.

Then Mythbusters put explosive all around the window to blow it out and
deliberately cause an explosive decompression. The crash test dummy,
"Buster," was damaged but was not sucked out the window. If he had been a
real person he would have been injured but probably lived. His arm was badly
damaged enough that a human arm might have been lost. So Mythbusters patched
everything up and used a shaped charge to blow out the whole wall. The
explosive decompression ripped the entire top off the fuselage and much of
the wall out, but the seats and the crash test dummy remained in the
airplane. I would guess that if the "Buster" had been a live human he would
have been seriously injured and possibly killed.

Mythbusters then talked about how strong these airplanes really are and
closed with photos of the Hawaiian Airlines plane that suffered an explosive
decompression similar to the one that the show created with a shaped charge.
The only person killed was a flight attendant who was pulled from the plane
by the airstream, but the passengers all survived.

I thought the show was fascinating. It really demonstrated the engineering
that goes into an airliner. Besides, I like watching things blow up. It must
appeal to my inner 12 year old.

--
Christopher J. Campbell
World Famous Flight Instructor
Port Orchard, WA


If you go around beating the Bush, don't complain if you rile the animals.