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Catastophic depressurization in a commercial airliner



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 18th 03, 06:07 AM
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Default Catastophic depressurization in a commercial airliner

We all have seen the movies were one pistol shot or what not causes
the side of an airliner explode sucking the people, seats, etc. into
the void. What would happen in the reality? Let's assume the plane is
at the cruising altitude.
  #2  
Old October 18th 03, 06:18 AM
N329DF
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What would happen in the reality? Let's assume the plane is
at the cruising altitude.


it would hiss until someone puts a inflight magazine to a good use and puts it
over the hole. Only if they managed to take out a window would there be a large
loss of cabin pressure,and then only until something like a briefcase can be
put over the opening.

Matt Gunsch,
A&P,IA,Private Pilot
Riding member of the
2003 world champion drill team
Arizona Precision Motorcycle Drill Team
GWRRA,NRA,GOA

  #3  
Old October 18th 03, 11:52 AM
Ragnar
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wrote in message
om...
We all have seen the movies were one pistol shot or what not causes
the side of an airliner explode sucking the people, seats, etc. into
the void. What would happen in the reality? Let's assume the plane is
at the cruising altitude.


A bullet hole is nothing. The cabin pressurization systems can handle it.
I had the bottom of a rear door seal (about two feet of seal) fail once, and
all it did was hiss until we threw a bunch of wet paper towels in the hole.

And if you lose a window, sure you'll get everything loose like paper and
small items blowing around, but a regular sized person isn't going to get
sucked out. Might seal up the hole pretty efficiently though.


  #4  
Old October 18th 03, 12:43 PM
Leslie Swartz
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Not much.

The hissing noise would be irksome, though.

Even if it took out a window- and a large window at that- there wold be an
initial puff of wind, then a howling noise.

Oh yeah, all the passengers would begin screaming as they got tangled up in
their oxygen masks/lines.


The big problem would be if the bullet hit something important, like the
beverage cart . . .

Steve Swartz



wrote in message
om...
We all have seen the movies were one pistol shot or what not causes
the side of an airliner explode sucking the people, seats, etc. into
the void. What would happen in the reality? Let's assume the plane is
at the cruising altitude.



  #6  
Old October 18th 03, 01:46 PM
Tex Houston
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wrote in message
om...
We all have seen the movies were one pistol shot or what not causes
the side of an airliner explode sucking the people, seats, etc. into
the void. What would happen in the reality? Let's assume the plane is
at the cruising altitude.


The subject of your query puzzles me as this is a military aviation forum
but will attempt an answer for you. If it hits nothing vital (electrical,
hydraulic, etc) the answer is...pretty much nothing.

Tex


  #7  
Old October 18th 03, 02:57 PM
Keith Willshaw
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wrote in message
om...
We all have seen the movies were one pistol shot or what not causes
the side of an airliner explode sucking the people, seats, etc. into
the void. What would happen in the reality? Let's assume the plane is
at the cruising altitude.


Not much unless a window was taken out and even then while
pillows , papers and magazines would be thrown about
people wouldnt be.

The extreme case is the Aloha airlines 737 which last about 20 ft of cabin
and
managed a safe landing, although some people were killed
on that one.

Keith



  #8  
Old October 18th 03, 03:55 PM
Kevin Brooks
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"Ragnar" wrote in message ...
wrote in message
om...
We all have seen the movies were one pistol shot or what not causes
the side of an airliner explode sucking the people, seats, etc. into
the void. What would happen in the reality? Let's assume the plane is
at the cruising altitude.


A bullet hole is nothing. The cabin pressurization systems can handle it.
I had the bottom of a rear door seal (about two feet of seal) fail once, and
all it did was hiss until we threw a bunch of wet paper towels in the hole.

And if you lose a window, sure you'll get everything loose like paper and
small items blowing around, but a regular sized person isn't going to get
sucked out. Might seal up the hole pretty efficiently though.


I believe you are generally correct, but there have been exceptions.
ISTR the loss of a USAF crewmember on a C-130, the one engaged by
Peruvian aircraft in during a counterdrug mission, for example?
Subject to correction from anyone who knows what happened, I seem to
remember that a crewmember was sucked out of a rather small opening--I
have not found much about it, other than mention that the attack did
occur in April 1992. On the civil side, passengers have been lost when
they departed (in more ways than one) through not-that-much larger
fuselage openings created due to turbine failures.

Brooks
  #9  
Old October 18th 03, 04:37 PM
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And if you lose a window, sure you'll get everything loose like paper and
small items blowing around, but a regular sized person isn't going to get
sucked out. Might seal up the hole pretty efficiently though.


There's a Russian movie, where exactly that happened. It's a comedy.

However, the gaping hole will not occur?
  #10  
Old October 18th 03, 05:51 PM
John R Weiss
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wrote...
We all have seen the movies were one pistol shot or what not causes
the side of an airliner explode sucking the people, seats, etc. into
the void. What would happen in the reality? Let's assume the plane is
at the cruising altitude.


Let's further assume the bullet goes through the aluminum skin. It would result
in a hole about 1/2" in diameter and probably a loud whistling of escaping air.
The outflow valves that control pressurization would close slightly to
compensate for the air loss. You're left with the noise, exacerbated by
screaming/panicking passengers. Put a pillow over the hole to stop the
whistling; that may stop the screaming.

Worse case would be a window. The bullet might cause the entire window to fail.
Since the window is similar in size to the outflow valves, the cabin pressure
would probably begin to decrease slowly as the air rushes out. Unrestrained
objects may be sucked out. A dinner tray or piece of a serving cart could be
used to block the hole, if it could be maneuvered into place.

 




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