What would a plane crash like the Air France one be like from inside the plane?

[Terraplane]

@Chamberlain34

However, your approach in explaining the facts, rational and cold as it may be, came off as a little harsh simply because the details you include are horrifying to realize. As you implied, people don’t want to hear about these potential realities because it is too difficult, too horrible, too terrifying to accept. That is, knowing the truth about what might happen in this scenario creates an intense sense of anxiety in the average person.

There are a number of ways to deal with and alleviate this anxiety and here are a few I can think of: First, you can completely avoid the topic by convincing yourself that a crash will never happen to you (and this is really the most rational approach given the statistics of aviation disasters); Second, you can avoid flying altogether (not very practical but common enough I imagine); Third, you can convince yourself that you will be unconscious for the whole thing; Fourth, you can accept that it would be a horrible death and deal with the anxiety (which is extremely difficult and uncomfortable). Out of curiosity, and because I struggle with this myself, how do you deal with such anxiety? Or is this even something you think about? Is there a particular category (above) you would put yourself in?

With that psychological rationale established, I have to disagree that it is “psychologically arrogant” to be unsettled by your comments - in fact, in my professional opinion (I’m a social psychologist), it is psychologically normal to have that reaction. That is not to say it is the most productive or most appropriate response (from a rational standpoint), it is simply the most adaptive human response in dealing with the anxiety created from reading about such horrible fates. Along the same lines, I don’t think it is exactly cowardice to not want to relive others’ past horrors; it is just easier to cope when we can believe that these situations were not as horrifying. Of course, it is crucial (as you allude to) that humankind learn from its past mistakes, whether it be from the Holocaust or Airplane crashes. It is just that the majority of the public is not built to deal with this information and it may not always help to inject this information into the general public. For instance, if your comments about what might have happened with the Air France plane were readily shared in every media outlet, I think it is fair to say that the airline industry would take a significant (albeit temporary) hit due to a terrified public.

If people don’t want to know what a plane crash like the Air France one might be like from inside the plane, they probably shouldn’t open a thread titled “What would a plane crash like the Air France one be like from inside the plane?” I’m not sure what else you could reasonably expect from this thread and it’s weird to see people taking issue with somebody answering the op’s question.

[Johnny_L.A]

@Chamberlain34

However, your approach in explaining the facts, rational and cold as it may be, came off as a little harsh simply because the details you include are horrifying to realize. As you implied, people don’t want to hear about these potential realities because it is too difficult, too horrible, too terrifying to accept. That is, knowing the truth about what might happen in this scenario creates an intense sense of anxiety in the average person.

The whole point of the thread is to provide a factual description, as accurately as possible given that there are very few people who have been through it, of the passengers’ perspective of an in-flight breakup. If people ‘don’t want to hear about these potential realities because it is too difficult, too horrible, too terrifying to accept’, then they should not read the thread. I don’t like writing that, since it has become a cliché; but it really is the sensible answer.

Is it useful to answer such a question as the OP factually? Yes. As a (non-current) pilot, I want to know everything I can about aviation accidents. When I get flying again, I may remember something that saves my life. Not that this particular information would, but it’s part of knowing about flying. Life is full of risks, and we can choose to take them or not. Knowing what happens if the airplane falls apart won’t keep me out of the air. (My mortgage is taking care of that! )

Pilots love ‘hangar flying’, and part of that is discussing what went wrong in a crash – even if we don’t have all of the information. We can speculate whether a crash was caused by weather, a design flaw, a maintenance issue, or pilot error. Talking about it helps us remember lessons we may have forgotten, and reminds us that even those of us who go up in Bugsmasher 200s should conduct ourselves as professionally as people like LSLguy who make their living flying machines we’ll never get to handle. We all do thorough preflight inspections, right? Check the fuel for water? Make sure there’s fuel in the tanks? Remember to remove the control lock(s)? Of course we do. But then we hear about someone who forgot, sometimes with tragic results, and maybe we pay a little more attention the next time we go up.

My guess as to what the Air France was like is pretty much as LSLguy posted. But my post wasn’t anywhere near as informative as his. I appreciate his input. It’s not going to keep me off of the plane on Thursday.

[CurtC]

@Chamberlain34

There are a number of ways to deal with and alleviate this anxiety and here are a few I can think of: First, you can completely avoid the topic by convincing yourself that a crash will never happen to you (and this is really the most rational approach given the statistics of aviation disasters); Second, you can avoid flying altogether (not very practical but common enough I imagine); Third, you can convince yourself that you will be unconscious for the whole thing; Fourth, you can accept that it would be a horrible death and deal with the anxiety (which is extremely difficult and uncomfortable). Out of curiosity, and because I struggle with this myself, how do you deal with such anxiety?

Chamberlain, do you ever drive or ride in cars or trains? If so, which method do you use to deal with the anxiety of knowing that you could possibly die a horrible death in one?

'Cause the chance of dying a horrible death in a car is way greater than his chance of doing so in a plane.

[SunSandSuffering]

I don’t know how accurate this information is, but quoted from here discussing the Lockerbie Pan Am flight 103:

“Although the passengers would have lost consciousness through lack of oxygen, forensic examiners believe some of them might have regained consciousness as they fell toward oxygen-rich lower altitudes. Forensic pathologist Dr William G. Eckert, director of the Milton Helpern International Center of Forensic Sciences at Wichita State University, who examined the autopsy evidence, told Scottish police he believed the flight crew, some of the flight attendants, and 147 other passengers survived the bomb blast and depressurization of the aircraft, and may have been alive on impact. None of these passengers showed signs of injury from the explosion itself, or from the decompression and disintegration of the aircraft. The inquest heard that a mother was found holding her baby, two friends were holding hands, and a number of passengers were found clutching crucifixes.”

“Dr Eckert told Scottish police that distinctive marks on Captain MacQuarrie’s thumb suggested he had been hanging onto the yoke of the plane as it descended, and may have been alive when the plane crashed. The captain, first officer, flight engineer, a flight attendant, and a number of first-class passengers were found still strapped to their seats inside the nose section when it crashed in a field by a tiny church in the village of Tundergarth. The inquest heard that the flight attendant was alive when found by a farmer’s wife, but died before her rescuer could summon help.”

[Cat_Jones]

@The_Great_Philosopher

snip The point is I find it irritating when people like LSLGuy come into my thread and instead of answering the question make assertions like it’s “guaranteed” the passengers would have been conscious for the whole experience - /snip

But he didn’t say that … he said

Assuming you’ve got a good heart, are wearing your seatbelt and aren’t right at the edge of a chunk, you’re still 100% alive, conscious, & uninjured. Scared and doomed, but uninjured.

Due to the extreme adrenaline rush, folks will be using up blood oxygen at a furious pace. Many will lose consciousness due to lack of air pressure at altitude. But far from all.

I too would like to thank LSLGuy for his post - not that I liked the information therein but I did appreciate it. As Chamberlain34 intimated his tone may have seemed cold but I read it as a professionally objective post - much like a doctor describing a surgical procedure - I think a more dramatic “you can see the ocean rushing up towards you between your feet, in the space the floor should have been” post would have obscured the facts.

[Broomstick]

@Chamberlain34

As a person with a completely irrational fear of flying, and an (ironically) overwhelming desire to know what might happen in a plane crash, I do appreciate your comments and perspective.

Actually, I have found the pairing of fear of flying with horrid fascination regarding accident details to be rather frequent.

However, your approach in explaining the facts, rational and cold as it may be, came off as a little harsh simply because the details you include are horrifying to realize. As you implied, people don’t want to hear about these potential realities because it is too difficult, too horrible, too terrifying to accept. That is, knowing the truth about what might happen in this scenario creates an intense sense of anxiety in the average person.

Then the average person should not be opening a thread with the subject of this one. I’m sorry - what part of that title implied that details would be left out? Do people really need to be warned that a factual description may be horrifying? I myself hesitated to read and get involved in this thread at first, and I’m usually one of the first to pop up in an aviation accident thread.

First, you can completely avoid the topic by convincing yourself that a crash will never happen to you (and this is really the most rational approach given the statistics of aviation disasters)

Unless, like **LSLGuy **or **Johnny **or myself you are a pilot. Pilots are, after all, the people to most likely wind up in an aircraft accident, as we spend more time there than anyone else. We don’t deny that we could end up in one, we handle the anxiety by taking all the steps we can to minimize our risk. Granted, that’s not usually an option open to the commercial airline passenger.

Third, you can convince yourself that you will be unconscious for the whole thing

Unfortunately, we pilots are expected to deal with any situation that arises, so the option of opting out, so to speak, is not open to us. We are also painfully aware that people do not pass out as readily as they would believe. I know I’ve heard screams of terror over the radio as someone crashed, I’m pretty sure LSLGUy has, too, and quite a few of the rest of us flying types. I’ve talked to people who’ve crashed and survived - people don’t pass out most of the time. To pretend otherwise would contradict my experience and reality.

Fourth, you can accept that it would be a horrible death and deal with the anxiety (which is extremely difficult and uncomfortable). Out of curiosity, and because I struggle with this myself, how do you deal with such anxiety? Or is this even something you think about? Is there a particular category (above) you would put yourself in?

I’m not speaking for LSLGuy, just strictly myself, but I think my answer to your question might prove intriguing.

In the late 1980’s I was aboard an airliner that sucked a bird into an engine, with the result that not only did the engine quit, smoke pour out, horrendous BANG!, the entire airplane being violently jerked to one side, but pieces were falling off the engine which fact was clearly visible to the passengers on that side of the airplane. We did, eventually, land safely but it was a pretty horrible experience. So bad, in fact, that the next time I went to board a commercial airliner I puked twice out of fear before I even got on the airplane (and let me tell you, it was a looooong flight to Arizona for me!). While understandable under the circumstances, I’m sure we agree that such a level of anxiety is abnormal even among anxious flyers.

The sad thing is that I had always before enjoyed flying and had always wanted to learn to fly.

How did I deal with the anxiety? I took flying lessons. Probably not the usual method for conquering fear of flying. I learned what was and wasn’t normal for an airplane, so I stopped fearing the things I shouldn’t fear. I learned what I really should fear, the stuff you should be afraid of. Then I learned to deal with that by learning how to solve problems, deal with emergencies, and above all, learn to avoid hazardous situations.

It’s my fear of dying horribly in an airplane that motivates me to treat each and every pre-flight as if my life depended on it - because it does. It’s my fear of dying horribly in an airplane that keeps my feet on the ground in marginal weather no matter how much I want to leave the ground. Which brings me to another thing - pilots love to fly. Many of us love it almost as much as life itself. We are willing to accept the risks in return for the benefits we receive from flying. While what we get out of it is different from what the average person gets, that’s really the reason most people step aboard an airplane - they feel the benefits of fast travel outweighs the very small risk of accident. They may not consciously realize that, but on a certain level that’s what is happening. The main difference is that the average pilot probably has a higher risk tolerance than the average non-pilot passenger.

So, to a large extent, I dealt with the anxiety by taking control (literally, in the case of my getting a pilot’s license) and by educating myself.

For pilots, in particular, refusing to face unpleasant facts head on is not compatible with a long life and dying in bed as opposed to an aircraft. Those who can’t shouldn’t be pilots - and I’ve seen people stop training or stop flying after witnessing an accident or its aftermath. Me - during my first month of flight training I watched two people I knew go nose-first into a runway and was in the group that went out to render first aid (both men survived with relatively minor injuries, just a broken nose, cracked ribs, and some nasty cuts and scrapes) and haul the bloody wreck off the runway. I was back for my next lesson. Perhaps that makes me unusual, but it’s not uncommon among pilots. No one likes those scenes - I think that may have been what particularly stung **LSLGuy **, the accusation that he somehow enjoyed relating the facts - but if you’re going to be a pilot you have to know the facts no matter how painful. And believe me, the brutal truth of airplane accidents is FAR worse that what LSLGuy related. It’s why experienced first responders often require counseling after cleaning up the aftermath of airline crashes, and suffer from PSTD symptoms.

It is just that the majority of the public is not built to deal with this information and it may not always help to inject this information into the general public.

And they never will learn to deal with it if it is never mentioned and becomes forbidden.

Now, I fully acknowledge that there are a lot of people who probably SHOULDN’T be reading the gory details, but assuming they are adults they should also know better than to click on a thread titled “What would a plane crash like the Air France one be like from inside the plant?”

For instance, if your comments about what might have happened with the Air France plane were readily shared in every media outlet, I think it is fair to say that the airline industry would take a significant (albeit temporary) hit due to a terrified public.

But this isn’t the BBC or the New York Times - this is a site that supposedly deals with FACTS and “fighting ignorance”. The only thing that might have been done differently here is a possible “TMI” warning at some point.

The usual media usually does give warning before talking about or showing details that may well upset people but I see no purpose in overprotecting people. I’m sorry if sometimes the factual answer to a question is upsetting, but life isn’t always pretty. The factual answer to “What was the end like about Flight 447?” isn’t pretty, it isn’t nice, and I’ve no doubt that the final accident report will likely be even worse that what **LSLGuy **describes if only because the only detail left out will be… how should I put this delicately?.. Human remains retrieved after a week in the Atlantic ocean will NOT be in good condition either from a visual or olfactory perspective.

So, while I sympathize with Philosopher’s visceral feelings and reactions I still feel that he was lashing out at LSLGuy because the truth was so very unpleasant, attacking the messenger so to speak. Perhaps next time Philosopher should specify that he doesn’t wish gory or graphic details, or that they should be put in spoiler boxes or otherwise labeled with a warning. The factual answers to some questions are unpleasant. As for factual answers then getting upset they they are more unpleasant than anticipated isn’t cool.

[Chamberlain34]

Obviously I did want to know what it would be like, which is why I googled this subject. I’m also not taking issue with his post, I am simply trying to explain responses to it. Thanks for reading carefully.

@omgzebras

If people don’t want to know what a plane crash like the Air France one might be like from inside the plane, they probably shouldn’t open a thread titled “What would a plane crash like the Air France one be like from inside the plane?” I’m not sure what else you could reasonably expect from this thread and it’s weird to see people taking issue with somebody answering the op’s question.

[Chamberlain34]

Thanks for your comments Broomstick. It is interesting to get others’ take on this type of fear.

Just to clarify, I wasn’t complaining about it being too graphic in this forum, just saying these details could be detrimental in a different (more public) forum. Again, just trying to explain why people might want to believe that passengers were unconcious for the whole thing. It completely makes sense that pilot would and should know about all the potentially horrible sceanrios that could occur so that they can try to prevent them.

@Broomstick

Actually, I have found the pairing of fear of flying with horrid fascination regarding accident details to be rather frequent.

Also, yes I agree that these two often co-occur, but it doesn’t make much sense to dwell on it if its a huge fear.
Then the average person should not be opening a thread with the subject of this one. I’m sorry - what part of that title implied that details would be left out? Do people really need to be warned that a factual description may be horrifying? I myself hesitated to read and get involved in this thread at first, and I’m usually one of the first to pop up in an aviation accident thread.
Unless, like **LSLGuy **or **Johnny **or myself you are a pilot. Pilots are, after all, the people to most likely wind up in an aircraft accident, as we spend more time there than anyone else. We don’t deny that we could end up in one, we handle the anxiety by taking all the steps we can to minimize our risk. Granted, that’s not usually an option open to the commercial airline passenger.
Unfortunately, we pilots are expected to deal with any situation that arises, so the option of opting out, so to speak, is not open to us. We are also painfully aware that people do not pass out as readily as they would believe. I know I’ve heard screams of terror over the radio as someone crashed, I’m pretty sure LSLGUy has, too, and quite a few of the rest of us flying types. I’ve talked to people who’ve crashed and survived - people don’t pass out most of the time. To pretend otherwise would contradict my experience and reality.
I’m not speaking for LSLGuy, just strictly myself, but I think my answer to your question might prove intriguing.

In the late 1980’s I was aboard an airliner that sucked a bird into an engine, with the result that not only did the engine quit, smoke pour out, horrendous BANG!, the entire airplane being violently jerked to one side, but pieces were falling off the engine which fact was clearly visible to the passengers on that side of the airplane. We did, eventually, land safely but it was a pretty horrible experience. So bad, in fact, that the next time I went to board a commercial airliner I puked twice out of fear before I even got on the airplane (and let me tell you, it was a looooong flight to Arizona for me!). While understandable under the circumstances, I’m sure we agree that such a level of anxiety is abnormal even among anxious flyers.

The sad thing is that I had always before enjoyed flying and had always wanted to learn to fly.

How did I deal with the anxiety? I took flying lessons. Probably not the usual method for conquering fear of flying. I learned what was and wasn’t normal for an airplane, so I stopped fearing the things I shouldn’t fear. I learned what I really should fear, the stuff you should be afraid of. Then I learned to deal with that by learning how to solve problems, deal with emergencies, and above all, learn to avoid hazardous situations.

It’s my fear of dying horribly in an airplane that motivates me to treat each and every pre-flight as if my life depended on it - because it does. It’s my fear of dying horribly in an airplane that keeps my feet on the ground in marginal weather no matter how much I want to leave the ground. Which brings me to another thing - pilots love to fly. Many of us love it almost as much as life itself. We are willing to accept the risks in return for the benefits we receive from flying. While what we get out of it is different from what the average person gets, that’s really the reason most people step aboard an airplane - they feel the benefits of fast travel outweighs the very small risk of accident. They may not consciously realize that, but on a certain level that’s what is happening. The main difference is that the average pilot probably has a higher risk tolerance than the average non-pilot passenger.

So, to a large extent, I dealt with the anxiety by taking control (literally, in the case of my getting a pilot’s license) and by educating myself.

For pilots, in particular, refusing to face unpleasant facts head on is not compatible with a long life and dying in bed as opposed to an aircraft. Those who can’t shouldn’t be pilots - and I’ve seen people stop training or stop flying after witnessing an accident or its aftermath. Me - during my first month of flight training I watched two people I knew go nose-first into a runway and was in the group that went out to render first aid (both men survived with relatively minor injuries, just a broken nose, cracked ribs, and some nasty cuts and scrapes) and haul the bloody wreck off the runway. I was back for my next lesson. Perhaps that makes me unusual, but it’s not uncommon among pilots. No one likes those scenes - I think that may have been what particularly stung **LSLGuy **, the accusation that he somehow enjoyed relating the facts - but if you’re going to be a pilot you have to know the facts no matter how painful. And believe me, the brutal truth of airplane accidents is FAR worse that what LSLGuy related. It’s why experienced first responders often require counseling after cleaning up the aftermath of airline crashes, and suffer from PSTD symptoms.
And they never will learn to deal with it if it is never mentioned and becomes forbidden.

Now, I fully acknowledge that there are a lot of people who probably SHOULDN’T be reading the gory details, but assuming they are adults they should also know better than to click on a thread titled “What would a plane crash like the Air France one be like from inside the plant?”
But this isn’t the BBC or the New York Times - this is a site that supposedly deals with FACTS and “fighting ignorance”. The only thing that might have been done differently here is a possible “TMI” warning at some point.

The usual media usually does give warning before talking about or showing details that may well upset people but I see no purpose in overprotecting people. I’m sorry if sometimes the factual answer to a question is upsetting, but life isn’t always pretty. The factual answer to “What was the end like about Flight 447?” isn’t pretty, it isn’t nice, and I’ve no doubt that the final accident report will likely be even worse that what **LSLGuy **describes if only because the only detail left out will be… how should I put this delicately?.. Human remains retrieved after a week in the Atlantic ocean will NOT be in good condition either from a visual or olfactory perspective.

So, while I sympathize with Philosopher’s visceral feelings and reactions I still feel that he was lashing out at LSLGuy because the truth was so very unpleasant, attacking the messenger so to speak. Perhaps next time Philosopher should specify that he doesn’t wish gory or graphic details, or that they should be put in spoiler boxes or otherwise labeled with a warning. The factual answers to some questions are unpleasant. As for factual answers then getting upset they they are more unpleasant than anticipated isn’t cool.

[Chamberlain34]

Thanks for your insight CurtC. I had no idea that your chances of dying in a car were much greater than dying in a plane

Please note the first line, where I call it an “irrational fear.” Going on statistics alone I would know that I am safe flying. I don’t have anxiety about driving in a car because it is completely noramlized for me. That is, I am used to the situation. On top of that, I’m not going 500 mph and I’m not 30,000 feet in the air. Oh, and, in a car, I’m typically in control. These are the reasons I have no anxiety in spite of the prospect of getting in an accident. Plus, I think I would take death by car accident over death by plane crash.

@CurtC

Chamberlain, do you ever drive or ride in cars or trains? If so, which method do you use to deal with the anxiety of knowing that you could possibly die a horrible death in one?

'Cause the chance of dying a horrible death in a car is way greater than his chance of doing so in a plane.

[Sapo]

@The_Great_Philosopher

I didn’t find your comments emotionally unsettling, I just found them useless for answering my question - you just went off on a tangential rant, like you’ve done again here. You didn’t tell me what it would have been like for the passengers, you told me two things: that violent turbulence can’t render anyone unconscious (which is wrong) and that the passengers would ‘guaranteed’ have been conscious, which might well be true but you didn’t justify it, and given that it contradicts what a number of other pilots and doctors have said, I feel it’s a claim that needs to be justified.

@The_Great_Philosopher

From the Daily Telegraph: “Experts said the most likely scenario was that the break-up was caused by massive depressurisation inside the plane … As Philippe Juvin, a French doctor, explained: “If depressurisation is extremely brutal, you lose consciousness and a deep coma sets in. It would have been like falling asleep.”

Hope that’s ‘specific’ enough for you mate.

@The_Great_Philosopher

Exactly. I have no idea if that Doctor Juvin guy is reliable, I never said he was. The point is I find it irritating when people like LSLGuy come into my thread and instead of answering the question make assertions like it’s “guaranteed” the passengers would have been conscious for the whole experience - something which is by no means a consensus opinion - with no explanation or justification whatsoever, then rant about how I’m “psychologically arrogant” or something when I press him for explanation. That’s useless to me.

TGP, I am still not sure what is it that you wanted out of this thread. LSLG gave a rather complete impression of what events the passengers would have probably experienced and coached it in enough Maybes, Ifs and Probablys to make sure it was clear that his was not a final answer but a possible scenario. But that is not what you wanted.

Did you want a more psychological approach? How the experience was harrowing and angst ridden instead of plane tiltings and parts flying by?

Then you come with a random quote about how it was like falling asleep. That makes me think that you wanted not an answer but reassurance that it was all nice for the passengers. But then there is no point in starting this thread since that opinion is popular enough on the mainstream media for anyone to get his fill.

So now that you have made clear all the things that are useless to you, could you care to outline what would be useful to you? That might make it more likely for you to get the response you want (as long as you don’t want something too far from the truth).

I don’t know much about airplanes, but I am getting a feeling that it was more likely to be in line with LSLG’s tale of bumps, lurches and bangs than with “like falling asleep”.

[Sapo]

Chamberlain34, I think that just about any action we undertake has some potential to end in some horrific nightmare of pain and suffering. I am sure that even a mediocre writer coached by a doctor could write the story of a guy who slips in a bar of soap and ends up dying of hypothermia after 5 days paralyzed on the floor of his shower feeling hunger, pain and cold and how all his systems slowly fail while nobody in the cold city is aware of his loneliness and suffering. That won’t stop me from taking a shower.

Pilots know their planes can fail catastrophically. Parents know they could get that call from their kids school. Daily commuters have seen the news of the tanker truck that crushes 34 cars. We all just have to keep living.

[mangeorge]

@Sapo

I don’t know much about airplanes, but I am getting a feeling that it was more likely to be in line with LSLG’s tale of bumps, lurches and bangs than with “like falling asleep”.

I don’t remember what’s it’s called, but sometimes people facing unavoidable danger fall asleep. Remember that astronaut who went to sleep on the launch pad?

[Broomstick]

I, too, have to wonder if **Philosopher **actually wanted reassurance rather than facts. If so, this was not the place to find it as the facts are not nice. In that was what he was looking for I’d caution him not to ask questions like “what was it like?” of pilots in the future, as well as doctors, engineers, and others who work in fields where facing the facts, however unpleasant, is necessary.

[Broomstick]

@mangeorge

I don’t remember what’s it’s called, but sometimes people facing unavoidable danger fall asleep. Remember that astronaut who went to sleep on the launch pad?

I don’t think think he was falling asleep because of danger, I think he feel asleep because he was bored lying on his back for hours on end.

[mangeorge]

Thanatosis?

[Terraplane]

@Chamberlain34

Obviously I did want to know what it would be like, which is why I googled this subject. I’m also not taking issue with his post, I am simply trying to explain responses to it. Thanks for reading carefully.

You gave some reasons why people might get upset about reading the details of a horrible plane crash. I replied that if people are going to get upset reading the details of a horrible plane crash maybe they shouldn’t open open threads specifically for the purpose of learning the details of a horrible plane crash. I’m not sure where any of that precludes my having read your post carefully.

[Chamberlain34]

Did you not mean to imply that I shouldn’t have opened the thread? It certainly seemed that way but perhaps I misread it. Either way, I’m sure people who do get upset at this stuff, and want to avoid it, can easily do so.

@omgzebras

You gave some reasons why people might get upset about reading the details of a horrible plane crash. I replied that if people are going to get upset reading the details of a horrible plane crash maybe they shouldn’t open open threads specifically for the purpose of learning the details of a horrible plane crash. I’m not sure where any of that precludes my having read your post carefully.

[Spiff]

I’m curious that many posts have spoken of the decompression effects of a break up at 35,000 feet.

But what about the effects of suddenly encountering -30 to -50 degrees below zero temperature (with a pretty damn large wind chill effect)?

Wouldn’t THAT cause one to black out pretty damn quick? Especially combined with the lack of oxygen?

[Whack-a-Mole]

@Spiff

I’m curious that many posts have spoken of the decompression effects of a break up at 35,000 feet.

But what about the effects of suddenly encountering -30 to -50 degrees below zero temperature (with a pretty damn large wind chill effect)?

Wouldn’t THAT cause one to black out pretty damn quick? Especially combined with the lack of oxygen?

Nah.

Sure that is very cold but they are only in that cold for a minute or two. Nowhere near enough to cause unconsciousness. Remember they are falling into warmer temps below all the while.

Plus, considering the adrenaline rush and your current circumstances I have to wonder if the cold would even register. Really the least of your problems.

[Broomstick]

I suppose if you had heart problems the sudden exposure to that sort of cold could have significant effects, from angina to unconsciousness to even death, but most people don’t fall into that category, and even a lot of people with heart problems might survive it.

Frostbite and hypothermia has been reported in people who survived high altitude decompression, but from what I’ve been able to study it’s usually not bad enough to make you lose body parts, and even then the people where in that environment for a little while. In the case of something like what happened to Air France 447 you’re only exposed to that level of cold for a minute or two at most. Just not enough time to do a lot of damage via cold.