Suppose I was to attach myself to the exterior of a jet airplane somehow.
What would I have to do to survive a couple hours of flight?
I’m thinking along the lines of the following:
[ul]
[li]Face backwards so breathing is a little easier[/li][li]Wear a jacket and long underwear[/li][li]Wear goggles and an oxygen mask[/li][li]Definitely ear muffs and ear plugs for the jet noise[/li][/ul]
What other factors would I have to deal with? Or am I going to end up looking like that poor skeleton guy on the wing from the Twilight Zone?
I believe you’ll be dealing with temps of -40 and 600 MPH winds. Ear muffs, a jacket, and long underwear won’t cut it. There have been several folks who’ve hidden themselves in the wheel wells of airliners and died from exposure, I don’t think you’ll fair much better being duct taped to the wing.
I remember a story about a passerger jet crash in South America. The plane had rolled over and gone into a dive more or less perpendicular to the ground. The plane was going around 500mph and finally broke up in flight. Many people suddenly found themselves outside the jet going 500+mph towards the ground. The corpses were found largely nude. This wind velocity apparently will strip all clothing off. Somehow I think your parka just won’t do
Lemme think. 600 mph is twice as fast as a tornado. Friction increases by the square of the speed, so friction is 4 times greater than a tornado. You’re gonna die.
I think you’d have one hell of a ride, assuming you could hang on, at least for a few minutes. Then you’d be dead.
As previous posters have pointed out, sub-zero temperatures combined with airspeed would freeze your ass – and all your other parts – within minutes.
Consider that bomber crews in WWII flew at lower altitudes and speeds, but still required the best insulation of the day AND electrically heated clothing to survive INSIDE the friggin’ plane…
Yeah…but don’t forget the guy Joe Kittenger (sp) who jumped out of a high flying balloon and became the only person to break the sound barrier without a plane. It can be done…
I recommend a steel capsule to hide in. Better heat it, and you might want to pressurize it, too.
But then, there’s another perfectly good, heated, pressurized capsule right next to you…
flat pitch: There’s a difference between indicated and true airspeed. Kittinger came close to the speed of sound, but at the altitude he was at, his indicated airspeed (the airspeed he ‘felt’) was still pretty low.
To further illustrate this point, in Stephen Ambrose’s The Wild Blue he talked about how the ground crews for bombers in WWII would place cases of beer in the plane, because when they came back the beer temp had dropped to the point that it was ice cold.
Re Mr. Kittenger’s famous record skydive: I’d like to point out that the gentleman in question was wearing a pressure suit at the time. Sort of required when you start at 100,000 feet because there’s not enough air to support human life at that altitude.
Could you “wing-walk” on, say, a Boeing 747? Well, IF you had a way to stay stuck to the airplane and IF they didn’t go to high and MAYBE if they were in slowflight, or at least under 200 mph, and you had some protective clothing for the wind going by… yeah, you could. If they stayed under 10,000 feet you’d have plenty of air to breathe and it wouldn’t be unbearably cold.
At 30,000 and normal cruise? Not a chance. At least, not without a pressure suit and being strapped down very securely.
