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.

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

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.

"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

Hi

There was an incident involving an R.C.A.F. Station Namao-based S.A.C.
KC-135 Stratotanker back in 1961. (S.A.C. maintained a standing tanker
detachment at R.C.A.F. Station Namao, located just north of the city of
Edmonton, Alberta.

The aircraft had been involved in refueling a B-52 north of R.C.A.F.
Station Namao, when one of the windows blew out at altitude and
partially sucked one of the crew out of the aircraft. Apparently the
resulting trauma to his body allowed all the blood to be sucked out. I
talked to an old boomer who recalled the incident and said that when the
plane landed at Namao, there was a stream of frozen blood running along
the side of the fuselage.

Cheers...Chris

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?

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.

In article ,
writes
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.

I wouldn't call that 'catastrophic' decompression, one of the best
examples of which would be the Comet crashes and subsequent
investigation which are very well documented. The JAL 747 which lost the
fin when the rear pressure bulkhead failed (although it continued to fly
for nearly an hour before hitting a mountain). A couple of incidents
where DC10s lost cargo doors, causing very serious damage and the loss
of at least one aircraft. A 737 that lost nearly half of the cabin roof
landed safely.

There was the BAC 1-11 where a windscreen was sucked out, sucking the
captain out of his seat and onto the nose. The first officer managed to
land it whilst a steward held onto the captain's legs.

--
John

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

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

The reason I posted it here is that here is the place where the people
who think about this kind of crap congregate. Like me.