What Happens If You Get Sucked Out of a Plane?

astroengine writes "We've all wondered about it. When flying at 30,000ft, you look around the cramped economy class cabin thinking 'I wonder if I'd survive being sucked out of this plane if a hole, say, just opened above my head?' That's probably around the time that you should fasten your seat belt. According to medical experts interviewed by Discovery News in the wake of the Southwest Airlines gaping hole incident, the rapid depressurization, low oxygen levels and freezing cold would render you unconscious very quickly. Assuming you don't get chopped in half as you exit through the hole and hit the tail, you'd be long dead before you hit the ground. Nice."

Comments

Why were experts called on this?

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought this was obvious, even from a non scientific point of view?

This has sadly happened...

[Aphrika]

A flight attendant was killed when she was blown out of Aloha Airlines flight 243 back in 1988.

The plane landed with a huge section of fuselage missing, but the other passengers survived. Not a trip I'd like to be on, and makes the Southwest incident look minor in comparison.

Re:This has sadly happened...

[Aphrika]

I was commenting on the survivability of it, not the cause. In the case of the Aloha incident, it's interesting to note the high number of injuries to survivors who were in the plane, no doubt some were caused by environmental rather than physical trauma.

In any case, planes are design with blow out panels, there's some speculation as to the exact cause of 243, but nevertheless it had a huge impact on aircraft design and safety.

Re:This has sadly happened...

[AHuxley]

Also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_5390 the left windscreen failed at 17300 feet and the captain was sucked 1/2 out.

Re:This has sadly happened...

[damburger]

He survived, but only just. Until the paramedics got there the crew were convinced he was long dead.

It's pretty well known...

[Lord_of_the_nerf]

....you spend six confusing years on an island with a bunch of strangers and a polar bear.

Hopefully you adapt quickly and learn to hate flashbacks and flashforwards.

Re:It's pretty well known...

[swb]

I thought you learned to eat raw fish and make friends with a ball.

They must have overlooked this

[houghi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_5390

Re:They must have overlooked this

[echucker]

Perhaps not. Wiki article says that aircraft was at 17000' and still climbing. It was not at cruising altitude of 30000'+.

Re:They must have overlooked this

[nettdata]

It's got more to do with the speed of the aircraft than it does the altitude.

The airspeed across the open/busted window creates a huge pressure differential, basically sucking the contents out of the space (in that instance, the cockpit).

If you've ever seen the small size of the window in question, and realize that the pilot was sucked halfway out of it, you might understand the level of force we're talking about here.

Re:They must have overlooked this

[nettdata]

Just to add to this, and to see the theory at work, you can do this simple exercise (like we did at flight school).

Open a can of some liquid. Coke, Pepsi, whatever.
Get a straw, and cut it so that the bottom end can be submerged a bit in the liquid, and the top end is about an inch over the opening in the can.
Blow across the top of the straw.
Liquid will come out, even though you're at the same altitude.

Same concept here, but with 400+ knot windspeed.

MHC

[Rik Sweeney]

I'm pretty sure it doesn't count as joining the Mile High Club.

No

[mr100percent]

No No No, you're not sucked out of a plane. Sheesh, is Discovery trying to blatantly go for the lurid headline when their own links on the page to the Mythbusters test show nothing happens?

All those hollywood movies are peddling falsehood, and it looks like Discovery is doing the same for profit and pageviews. Sheesh.

Re:No

[mr100percent]

As I said in an earlier post, Aloha Airlines had 20 feet of walls and ceiling suddenly tear off the fuselage. The only death was a flight attendant who was in the aisle at the time, I'm sure the 700 mile an hour wind and immediate turbulence is what made her fall out, not some sudden pressure change of only 8.5psi. Mythbusters tested it, even detonating explosives on the window in the pressurized plane didn't knock Buster out of his seat.

Hollywood put this idea in everyone's minds that everyone gets sucked out into space, like Goldfinger, if you shoot out a window on a plane. Just doesn't happen that way.

Re:No

[AmiMoJo]

While you won't get sucked out of a broken window if there is a large enough tear the resulting forces can lift you off the ground. The first commercial passenger jet, the Comet, discovered this when two of the broke up in mid air. They found that the passengers all died from broken necks rather than from the fall. In tests it was discovered that sudden depressurisation was slamming them up into the ceiling. That is why they tell you to put on your seatbelt - if there was a sudden loss of pressure it would keep you in your seat.

Re:Why, oh why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Either google images is lying to me or pornographers are losing the art of creative naming.

Inspired by the headline, I searched for 'gaping hole incident' intending to report on the panoply of eye-gouging horror, yet lo and behold the first page is not only boring, it's SFW. Taking a tip from a result pertaining to a sinkhole, 'absurdly large gaping hole' was similarly disappointing. It was necessary to revert to such pedestrian language as "big gaping hole" to elicit the predicted flood of distended anus pictures; The legendary master and lord of all such things never appeared on any of the first three pages.

The Internet seems to be losing its edge...

Not really

[Joce640k]

30,000 feet is about as high as Everest. People have walked up Everest and survived... ...in fact I'm not sure I believe their conclusions. You'd be down to almost 'normal' conditions in about a minute.

People have survived half an hour at altitudes higher than that, eg. Ewa Wisnierska.

Re:Not really

[cpghost]

Those who walked up the Everest had time to depressurize very slowly. Every diver will tell you what happens if you depressurize too fast.

Re:Not really

[Anonymous Coward]

We're talking about like half of one atmosphere, here. I don't think you're going to get the bends.

Re:Not really

[Opportunist]

Erhm.... I think the sensible thing to do is to ponder how to avoid it altogether. By the time you get sucked out of that plane, you are a goner. You don't get bonus points for "but he survived to feel the impact" on your autopsy report.

There is no effing achievement for that!

Re:Not really

[Intrepid imaginaut]

You don't get bonus points for "but he survived to feel the impact" on your autopsy report.

There is no effing achievement for that!

Meh, I'd rather not be put down in my sleep like an ailing pet, thanks. More seriously though, the will to survive is probably the single most important factor in any survival situation, closely followed by knowledge of what to do in your environment. Its shocking how many people just give up, lie down and die, sometimes when help was close at hand. Keeping your spirits up is vital, even if you've just been sucked out of a plane! :D

Re:Not really

[Intrepid imaginaut]

I'd rather be thinking "Hey I can see my house from here, wheeeeeeeee" than spending my last few minutes in blind animal terror. Sure, the last thing going through my mind would probably be my feet, but that's no reason to quit!

Re:Not really

[Intrepid imaginaut]

WTF? Who's gonna not have the will to survive? Isn't screaming in fear an indication of this desire?

There's a difference between the will to live and the will to survive. Survival means you live by reasoning, determination, training, and actions. Living simply means you continue to breathe until you are found. The will to survive is the mental conditioning of your mind to survive no matter what man, nature, or luck throws at you. Never underestimate the power of the mind.

Re:Not really

[th1nk]

You don't get bonus points for "but he survived to feel the impact" on your autopsy report.

No, but if you're already a goner you might as well have some fun with it.

I've decided that if I manage to survive the exit and the falling, I'm going to aim for someone's swimming pool and then yell CANNONBALL during my last few seconds. Hopefully someone is around to witness it.

Re:Not really

[LordNacho]

WTF? Who's gonna not have the will to survive? Isn't screaming in fear an indication of this desire?

There's a difference between the will to live and the will to survive. Survival means you live by reasoning, determination, training, and actions. Living simply means you continue to breathe until you are found. The will to survive is the mental conditioning of your mind to survive no matter what man, nature, or luck throws at you. Never underestimate the power of the mind.

That's about as useful as saying "whoever wants it more will win the game", along with a list of other mind-over-matter clichés.

Re:Not really

[huge]

Oxygen pre-breathing is required for high altitude skydiving to avoid DCS. I'd assume that rapid decompression in the plane would subject you to the same risks.

Re:Not really

[TheLink]

Sure but I still think you'd hit the ground before you die of any decompression issues.

The pressure difference between 6000-8000 feet (cabin pressure) and 30000 feet is not big enough to explode you - unlike some rapid decompression accidents (the squeamish probably shouldn't look those up).

Re:Not really

[Intrepid imaginaut]

That's about as useful as saying "whoever wants it more will win the game", along with a list of other mind-over-matter clichés.

Not really. One example that I can think of (I haven't the details handy) was when two liferafts were deployed from a sinking ship, same equipment in each, same number of people. In one the captain lost the run of himself, didn't keep up discipline, and eventually ended up dying, while the people in his raft were malnourished and near death when recovered. On the other raft however the first mate maintained discipline, kept up spirits, and his guys were able to get into the recovery ship unassisted.

Mental attitude makes all the difference.

Re:Not really

[rgbatduke]

But as soon as you got to low altitudes, opening up your arms a la skydivers would very rapidly take you back to terminal velocity for that position, which can range from 38 to 54 km/sec. I like HELP (the posture) until you get down to ten thousand feet or so, facing flat down splayed and with your jackets and clothing as spread out as possible to try to get your speed down to the better side of 40 m/sec and for the rest of the way down looking for a place that might cushion the impact, and steering for it to the extent you can manage. A fair number of people have survived free falls from airplanes high enough that it doesn't matter, terminal velocity was easily reached, a very few of them so lightly injured that they can even "walk away", although more commonly they barely survive and that only if medical help is immediately at hand.

Surviving here is like winning a game of egg-toss where you are the egg. You need to spread your de-acceleration out over the longest distance possible in impact. The equation involved (assuming uniform acceleration) is v^2 = 2 a H where H is the stopping distance and a is the acceleration experienced while stopping. Humans have survived a \approx 100 g, or a stopping distance of roughly one meter for an initial velocity of 45 m/sec (100 mph). They do better, of course, if the stopping distance is 2-3 meters, or if one is travelling more slowly -- the square means that a comes down rapidly with v so that stopping from 38 km/sec (roughly 80 mph, terminal velocity if you have e.g. a large overcoat and "parachute" it to slow your rate of fall) over 2 meters is only 37 g's of acceleration. a > 50 g makes it pretty unlikely to survive.

So what are good targets? Hay rolls out in fields -- good for a bullseye although you need a pretty big one in a soft, plowed field to be carried away with a ruptured spleen and subdural hematoma but alive. Tightly packed pine forest -- acually better, if you avoid skewering directly onto a tree and your head and kidneys take the punching from the branches as they break, because you might slow down over 5 to 10 meters, where the latter reduces a to 20g, easily survivable and you could even walk away from it . Big bushes of any sort better than hard ground, the bigger (taller) and denser the better. Spongy loam better than concrete (maybe a peat bog?). Deep water better than normal ground, but...

Water carries its own risks. It is an incompressible fluid and quite dense and you can't breathe it when unconscious, so hitting it in, say, a belly-flopper will just cause you to pop. Hitting water that is foamy on top (so that the water contains a lot of air bubbles that can act as a shock absorber) is better than hitting still water. Hitting water that has any sort of "splash" underway on the surface is good, as it might let you get a foot into the water on your way down and start to push the water sideways out of the way in some sort of turbulent flow instead of having to just push it all aside in front of you. The usual prescription for survival here is to fall splayed until quite close, then go straight up vertical, feet first, toes pointed (streamline), arms over head, and clench that sphincter for the 100 mph enema! You'll probably break your legs on the impact, but the rest of the shock will be transmitted up your spine, which is actually quite strong, and if your head is at the right angle your spine may not be jammed up into your brain or your head may not whip down so hard that it snaps your neck. In that case, if you aren't knocked out and don't mind dog paddling with possibly splintered leg bones and broken ankles, hey, you might survive long enough for a nearby boat to get you out.

So what are the odds? Miniscule, of course. Teensy. Small indeed. Perhaps not much better than if you do nothing at all and let luck determine if you hit that perfect pine forest or the trash pile at the foam rubber factory. But hey, it's something to do on the way down besides just going "Oooooh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttt....." and watching the ground reach up to swat you into oblivion.

rgb

Re:Not really

[PhreakOfTime]

which can range from 38 to 54 km/sec

At that point though, you will be on FIRE.

just like a meteor

Re:Not really

[ColdWetDog]

Yes, that's how Outward Bound got started (the realization that numerous Merchant Marine crews torpedoed in WWII were dying when they really could have survived with training and a better mental attitude). However, the physics of floating in a lifeboat and bailing out at 30,000 feet without gear are slightly different.

Re:Not really

[shadowfaxcrx]

People have walked up Everest and survived, but at a 1-in-10 death rate. And that's for people who are wearing proper clothing, often have bottled oxygen, and have trained for years to be able to survive a slow changeover from 5,000ft to the top.

Comparing that to the average untrained person with no oxygen or warm clothing being instantly taken from 7,000 feet-equivalent to 30,000 feet is pretty ridiculous.

Re:Not really

[dgatwood]

No, it's quite possible, though fairly unlikely, that you would survive, You're going to lose most of that 500 MPH forward velocity to wind resistance pretty quickly. Remember that terminal velocity for a person is only about 100-125 MPH.

So the real question that you have to ask is whether you can survive an impact at 100-125 MPH. And the answer is "If you do it right, yes, there's a slim chance." Aim for mud, snow, or trees to cushion your fall.

Thus far, I believe the survival record for free fall from a plane without a parachute was 22,000 feet. 30,000 feet, while a fair bit higher, is not actually any different from 22,000 feet thanks to terminal velocity, so the only important question is whether you have the foresight to curl up into a ball to accelerate your drop to 10,000 feet and whether you are still conscious when you get there to spread yourself back out and aim for something soft.

Re:Not really

[rgbatduke]

There are a lot of records of people who have fallen at terminal velocity and survived, and even walked away from it, if by a lot you mean one in a thousand or so. I enjoy telling all of this to my students when I teach them about drag forces and terminal velocity in intro physics which is why I have a good patter for it. If you look up "g force" and "terminal velocity" on wikipedia they have cross references of some of the people who have survived, by name, but during WW II there were a lot more that didn't get recorded -- people who fell or were shot out of planes at 10,000 to 16,000 feet without a chute but managed to walk away.

There is also a section in the Survival Guide (humor) book that you'll see in bookstores from time to time on this, and articles such as http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/safety/4344036 that again cross-reference previous occurrences. Documented no-airplane instances of survival are pretty rare, but there are a few that stand up to investigative test, and even a website devoted to this one subject (of course): http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffresearch.html

Anyway, Enjoy. These sites between them give you most of what is known about what is after all a very unlikely thing. Don't forget your trench coat and "Prove You're No Terrorist -- Fly Naked!" tank-top tee shirt and g-string for your next flight! Just remember that the g-string does not, in the end, help much with the terminal g-force (and what that final pa-da-pam, I'll stop:-).

rgb

Re:Not really

[Anubis IV]

High altitude skydiving is achieved via open air gondolas carried by balloons, meaning that the skydiver is exposed for an extended period of time well in advance of their dive (hence the need for pressure suits and pre-breathing), and is done at altitudes that are roughly three times greater than that of most commercial flights (over 100,000 ft. vs. 30-40,000 ft). In contrast, an airline passenger would be exposed to altitudes that are on par with that of Everest, which people have successfully climbed with oxygen. Suggesting that the risks are similar is a gross overstatement (clearly the airline passenger is at greater risk since they lack a parachute!).

Re:Not really

[SageMusings]

I also think you would hit the ground before freezing would be a factor. In fact, with the exception of hitting another portion of the airframe, I think the entire article was complete rubbish.

I used to skydive from 11.5K ft. That's about 55 seconds of free-fall time (with a safety margin). Extrapolating this to 35K suggests another 2.5 minutes. I am probably not going to asphyxiate in that time, either. Especially since I will be in lower altitudes quite quickly.

Would you be cold? Yes, very. Would you possibly pass out from low oxygen levels, possible but not certain. Would you get the bends? Even if you did, it would doubtful be fatal. The biggest concern by far is hitting the ground.

Re:Not really

[rgbatduke]

Sure, see comments in the linked articles. There are two possible entry positions, both of them probably but not certainly fatal -- feet first or head first with your hands overhead tightly clasped to protect your skull.

Another survival enhancer (if you have anything on you that is denser than you are) is to drop/throw something straight down so that it enters the water a short time before you do, breaking up the surface tension and mixing at least some air into it. But all of this is a lot to think about in the few minutes it takes to fall from great heights, so it pays to plan ahead. Or take the train. After all, you get a significant radiation dose flying, you're more likely to have a stroke, and all they serve you nowadays is teensy packets of pretzels or peanuts and a half can of coke as a sad, sad echo of flying service twenty or thirty years ago, when you weren't jammed into the tiniest seat that could possibly hold you, when flight attendants rarely had visible tattoos, when kids got to visit the pilot mid-flight and get a nifty pair of wings, when flying was actually fun.

Nowadays there are times when you can actually long for the plane to explode if only to get you out of your jammed, cramped seat in between two three hundred pound humans and in front of the crying baby.

rgb

Re:Not really

[JWSmythe]

What do we need test monkeys for, when we've had a real human "volunteer".

    Capt. Timothy Lancaster, British Airways Flight 5390, June 10, 1990. 23,000 feet, 500mph.

    One of the cockpit windshields was improperly secured after a repair, and blew out. He was sucked out of the cabin, and his leg caught on the controls. The flight crew managed to grab his feet and hold on through landing, before he made a full egress.

    He lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen. In addition, he suffered frostbite, bruising, abrasions, and fractures to his right arm, right wrist, and left thumb, and a dislocated shoulder.

    All in all, survivable (and he did). Most of the injuries would have been due to being pulled out the hole, and being pounded against the aircraft.

    If someone made a clean exit, not damaging themselves on the edges of the hole or other parts of the aircraft, it's a survivable event. They may or may not lose consciousness, depending on their breathing and personal fear level. i.e., us adrenaline junkies would probably remain calm-ish, and survive through the air.

    The least likely part to survive is that unintended intersection between their direction of travel, and a solid mass. (i.e., straight down, and hitting the ground).

    As the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy states about flying, "There is an art to flying, or rather a knack. Its knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, that provides the difficulties." I don't know of anyone who has managed the essential second part without artificial help.

Re:News

[zbaron]

(unless picked up by a passing spaceship, and the odds against that are astronomical)

No, just infinitely improbable.

What about long fall survivors ?

[Pastis]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Magee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Chisov

a bit different (and controversal) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulović

Re:I've actually thought about this

[r.stallman]

Correct, in fact this same thing happened to me once. I whipped out my Win7 Mobile device and thanks to it's superior 3G coverage was able to quickly refer to VirtualEarth on the way down. I then used the great new SQL/Server spatial extensions to work out the best trajectory and walked away with only a few scratches. After my smooth landing MapPoint guided me to the nearest pub so really it turned a potential disaster into a great day out, thanks again Microsoft!

Re:News

[JustOK]

yah, but Real people was finally cancelled in 1984 because of low ratings.

Re:I've actually thought about this

[St.Creed]

I remember a story of WW2 where a crewmember from a flying fortress (tailgunner I believe) couldn't reach his chute due to fire raging on the plane. So he decided to jump rather than burn. During the fall he got unconscious and fell into a pine forest covered with heavy snow. He survived with minor injuries.

Another case was a parachute jumper who got tangled in the cords, chute produced some drag but impact was still way above 100 Km/hr. Fortunately it was a former swamp and the ground tended to give way a bit. Everything fracturable was fractured on the impact points (she even managed to get those points correct as per training) but the woman remained conscious and survived.

I think though that when you drop out at 30.000 feet you will lose your consciousness quite soon and don't have much say in what happens. Which will usually be for the best.

Re:I've actually thought about this

[St.Creed]

And here's the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Alkemade

Sign, discovery showing its high standards again

[SmallFurryCreature]

Okay, couple of things going on here. First: The myth busters episode "proofing" you can't be sucked out of aircraft. This was the movie myth that a small hole wouldn't not cause everything inside to be sucked out. HOWEVER, we are not talking about that here, we are talking about a major hole. In the hawaii incident, there was a gigantic hole, the flight attendant was not sucked out movie style but (probably) swept up by the massive wind force that occurs partly simply because aircraft move so fucking fast. Nobody knows how she met her dead. It might be comforting to think she died instantly and without pain... if that helps you sleep at night.

Another incident involved a pilot being SUCKED out through the window in front of him (showing just how wrong the DISCOVERY mythbuster program is in its logic and research). He was SUCKED out and exposed to the cold and lack of oxygen for a long time AND survived.

Another incident involves an aircraft breaking up in mid air, all died but the family got record damages because experts had shown that they most likely survived the break up and were alive and aware the entire way down. Families were from one of the south american countries, maybe chili if you want to google it (to lazy myself).

The simple fact is that Myth Busters is a great example of bad science where they ignore recorded evidence and then twist the experiment until it doesn't resemble to claim at all. The clearest example was the "myth" of Jaws being able to hit a boat. So they tested the myth of a super sized shark hitting a boat, by using a smaller shark because Jaws was an unrealistic size... well? That is the myth, the myth is NOT real shark doing something real shark don't do.

Same with the being sucked out. There is more then one way, and pressure difference isn't the only one. Air rushing past a hole tends to create a sucking force itself (see how your engine sucks fuel up into the air) and a massive hole would create all kind of secondary forces. According to mythbusters, large buildings don't cause winds to rise to such level that they blow people of their feet because the pressure difference ain't big enough. Well, shucks.

So basically, discovery claims things contradicted by their own programs. Guess that answers who takes discovery serious, ABSOLUTELY NOBODY.

It ain't necessarily so

[Simon Brooke]

According to several of the police officers and volunteer helpers at the Lockerbie incident (Pan Am flight 103) whom I have personally spoken to, a substantial number of the passengers were not dead when initially found, although none survived. The cockpit came down in a field 150 metres from the house of a friend of mine. In the opinion of those witnesses what killed the passengers was injuries sustained in their impact with the ground, not the fall itself.

Re:It ain't necessarily so

[advocate_one]

I can vouch for this as I was there that night and several days after as one of the search parties tasked with finding and marking the positions of the occupants... not fun at all... very messy.

Re:Why, oh why?

[Briareos]

You've clearly got the wrong search term there - try 'gaping hole indecent'...

np: Meat Meat Manifesto - Luminol (Answers Come In Dreams)

In 1972 a flight attendant survived fall from 10km

[methamorph]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87 [wikipedia.org] In 1972 a serbian flight attendant survived a fall from 10,160 meters after the plain exploded mid air. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAT_Flight_367 [wikipedia.org] She holds the world record, according to the Guinness Book of Records, for surviving the highest fall without a parachute.

five meters deep

[mangu]

We're talking about like half of one atmosphere, here. I don't think you're going to get the bends.

That's absolutely correct, the pressure difference is equivalent to coming up from a five meters deep dive. I've done that many times but I never stayed that deep more than a minute or so.

Here's a question for the divers here: do you need special decompression routines if you dive at five meters for long periods?

Re:five meters deep

[Creedo]

Here's a question for the divers here: do you need special decompression routines if you dive at five meters for long periods?

No. That's the normal depth for doing a safety stop, so why bother? You'd usually run out of air long before you'd hit any nitrogen limits. I sometimes do a minimalist style of diving in the local lakes which involves hitting 10-15 meters while swimming up and down in the water column(chasing fish along cliffs, for what it's worth). I don't even bother with a computer for those.

Re:five meters deep

[Man Eating Duck]

Here's a question for the divers here: do you need special decompression routines if you dive at five meters for long periods?

PADI certified diver here. No, you don't, as this depth is too shallow to enable dangerous amounts of nitrogen to dissolve in your blood, at least in time spans you can reasonably stay there without getting trouble with hypothermia and exhaustion. Regular dive tables don't even extend to depths shallower than 10 meters, at which you can stay for more than three hours. I'm not certified to make dives that require decompression, that's pro/military territory, but I believe that 3-7 meters are actually common depths for making your last decompression stop.

On a side note: the bends are a real concern when traveling in aircraft; for instance it's highly discouraged to fly less than 24 hours even after a recreational dive that doesn't require decompression. The pressure in the cabin of a normal jet liner is maintained at a level which corresponds to about 2-3 kilometers above sea level. I'd guess that at least some people would have problems with a sudden decompression at up to 12000 meters, as susceptibility to getting the bends varies greatly from person to person. However, I doubt that it would be severe enough to kill you outright before you reach a lower altitude if you were unlucky enough to be sucked out of the plane. It might be a contributing factor (together with cold and trauma) to a fatal circulatory shock, though.

Re:five meters deep

[Runaway1956]

Also PADI certified, since 1981. Man Eating Duck knows what he is talking about. GP, GGP, or GGGP - whoever suggested that there might be problems with a 5 meter dive was talking out his ass.

Re:five meters deep

[rew]

The thing with diving is: nitrogen gas dissolves in blood ABOVE one atmosphere of pressure, but not much at normal pressure. So if you dive beyond 10m you'll have to be careful, coming back up. But going from 800mbar (pressure inside a plane) to 0.36 bar will not make the nitrogen boil.

Re:five meters deep

[angel'o'sphere]

In fact the GPGGP or GGGP which you are tolazy to scroll up, did not pull anythign about 5 meters being a problem out of his ass.
He asked politely if there is any diver who can clarify if there is a problem at 5 meters already.
angel'o'sphere

Re:five meters deep

[517714]

No, Boyle's law applies, if you recall, it is pressure ratio, not pressure difference, so it is equivalent to being fully saturated at about 40 feet and surfacing. If you are a scuba diver, you may recall that adjustments are supposed to be made to the dive tables when diving at altitude. The adjustments suggest that the tissue balance would be worse rather than better at altitude. so getting the bends is likely, but embolism (pulmonary barotrauma) would be the greater threat.

Mod parent down, not informative...

[multimediavt]

1. Your English needs work or you should at least read your post before hitting submit.
2. The science in Mythbusters is more sound than your unreferenced observations. The episode in question specifically dealt with a bullet piercing the hull of a plane, causing a larger hole to grow in the fuselage, and sucking someone out, not a gaping hole to begin with. (see http://mythbustersresults.com/episode10)
3. The vacuum caused by air rushing by at over 200 MPH caused the pilot of the BA BAC 1-11 to be partially sucked out an improperly installed cockpit window. Simple Bernoulli principle like the one that makes planes fly to begin with, duh. Dumbass should have been strapped in! Here's a view of the cockpit so you get an idea of how close he was to the window to start with. Not hard to see why he was lifted out the window. http://www.dmflightsim.co.uk/bac_1-11_vc.htm
4. Same thing for the Hawaii flight. The tear opened right above the flight attendant's head and sudden decompression along with the negative pressure caused by the air outside the aircraft traveling in excess of 200 MPH caused her to be sucked out. One-third of the roof of the cabin of the plane tore off! Anything not strapped in or being braced was going out the hole if the pilot hadn't descended and slowed down. Google Aloha 243 for more details. Too many articles to list here.
5. And finally, yes, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster investigation showed that people can survive catastrophic failure of an aircraft/spacecraft inside the atmosphere. Belief aside, the fact is if the decompression occurred above 16,000 feet they were most likely unconscious within seconds and the whole rest of the way down. Alive, most likely, but certainly not likely aware.

Nothing wrong with the science going on Mythbusters, but certainly selective memory distorts people's memories of what they actually tested.

So, what happens when you get sucked out a plane? Simple answer is you die. Complex answer is you die after being rendered unconscious by the lack of oxygen or trauma from hitting a part of the plane then hit the ground, OR you are conscious and screaming until you hit the ground. Bottom line, gravity wins!

Re:Instead of speculating, use real data.

[Technician]

A pilot was sucked out the cockpit when the windshield blew out. Only his legs remained inside. How about studying real examples for data instead of speculating what might happen.
http://www.businessinsider.com/jet-pilot-sucked-out-2011-4
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/04/what-to-do-when-your-pilot-gets-sucked-out-the-plane-window/236860/

Re:Sign, discovery showing its high standards agai

[Ogive17]

Another incident involved a pilot being SUCKED out through the window in front of him (showing just how wrong the DISCOVERY mythbuster program is in its logic and research). He was SUCKED out and exposed to the cold and lack of oxygen for a long time AND survived.

What happened to the pilot and what the Mythbusters did are two completely different things. By the way, don't you remember when one of the front windows of the plane they were using blew out and sucked everything from the cockpit, including seat cushions, out the window? But that wasn't their test, their test was if a bullet hole would cause catastrophic failure, which it didn't.

The simple fact is that Myth Busters is a great example of bad science where they ignore recorded evidence and then twist the experiment until it doesn't resemble to claim at all. The clearest example was the "myth" of Jaws being able to hit a boat. So they tested the myth of a super sized shark hitting a boat, by using a smaller shark because Jaws was an unrealistic size... well? That is the myth, the myth is NOT real shark doing something real shark don't do.

Do you know how silly that is? I guess they should next test if humans can fly since Super Man can do it.... but somehow they need to find a real superhuman first. What could would it be for a fantasy shark do fantasy damage? Their test was if a great white could actually do that type of damage. In order to test something worthwhile, they tried to make the scenario as realistic as they could.

I'm not going to say Mythbusters does everything right all the time. But your are trying to compare apples to oranges with your examples.

She wasn't sucked out of the plane...

[denzacar]

She remained in the plane, pinned down by a catering trolley - effectively a seat belt.
Also, she was found with a colleague's body on top of her (effectively an air-bag cushion).
Also, the part of the plane she was in crashed into trees on its way down - cushioning the fall.
Also, she was found by a trained medic.
Also, according to her statements she apparently always had rather low blood pressure - which prevented her from bleeding out until she was found.

Re:Answer a question?

[advocate_one]

it is true... they were in various stages of undress... we came upon a row of victims still strapped in to their seats but all minus their upper clothing...