Falling 33,000 Feet

[FUNKMAN]

Horde,

These people that got sucked out of the plane, were they "aware" for the entire fall?

I would say so but not sure if they would suffocate or freeze?

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- Congolese authorities were trying to sort out how many people died after a Russian cargo plane lost its door at 33,000 feet, and dozens of men women and children tumbled to their deaths after being sucked out of the plane.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/05/10/congo.accident.ap/index.html

<img src="http://www.grandfunkrailroad.com/covers/btd100.jpg">

[HordeKing1]

Fortunately for them, the answer is no. Humans cannot survive at that altitude w/o supplemental oxygen. Therefore even if they survived the sudden decompression, they would lose consciousness shortly afterwards b/c of lack of oxygen.

Surviving at high altitudes is possible but it requries a long period of acclimitization.

For example, about 65 people have climbed to the top of Mt. Everest (about 29.000 feet) w/o supplemental oxygen after an extended period of gradual acclimation at increasingly high altitudes. All other climbers needed oxygen. (AND heavily insulated clothing).

<img src="http://members.aol.com/rnfpantera/hking1">

[FUNKMAN]

Horde,

Thank You... It actually brought me a little peace and comfort to know that...

I have this strange obsession to know what people are feeling when they die in a disaster situation...

I would think about people that were alive and had gotten crushed to death in the WTC...
i would say for a second, maybe two they are actually feeling their body being crushed and their must be an enormous amount of fear for that short period of time. And people in plane crashes, there has to be a second or two of extreme pain...

I think the fear of pain is probably the leading factor in why people are "afraid to die"...

<img src="http://www.grandfunkrailroad.com/covers/btd100.jpg">

[Meatball]

there were survivors..perhaps they were wearing seat belts. But they would have had no air in the cabin.
I wonder how fast the carcasses were traveling when they hit the ground..couldnt their bodies take out a house at that speed?

<IMG SRC="http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/philex/meatball1.jpg">

[TooCute]

I wonder how fast the carcasses were traveling when they hit the ground.

33,000 feet is plenty of time for a human to reach terminal velocity, which is generally around 50-70m/s. Skydivers can actually go much faster than this by going headfirst and holdng in their arms and generally streamlining themselves. The world record skydive is at least three times this high, and I know there were some people planning on doing jumps from from like 130,000 feet but I don't think anyone has actually done that yet, or at least if you do a google search all you get are stories on people planning on breaking the record.

<img src=http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/toocute2.gif>
!! 2% !!<font color=FBF2F7>

[SatCam]

Back in the early 1900s some guy jumped from a blimp from over 100,000 feet high and was the first and only human to do a freefall and pass the speed of sound. I think he reached a high layer of the atmosphere. He also did the highest jump ever recorded. (of course he was wearing a self contained breathing suit)

<IMG SRC="http://members.aol.com/TheToddsterLSP/sigpics/satelitecam1.gif">
Thanks Toddster!
<A HREF=http://www.satelitecam.tk>>>RnF Site: Bit and Drop archive</A>

[Johnathan H Christ]

here's the thing though (again assuming that the sudden decompression didnt render them unconcious) if it started out at 33,000 feet. True at that height, you need oxygen to stay concious/live. but the unconciousness from lack of oxygen doesnt come imediatly. you still have whatever oxygen is circulating in your blood. once you pass 14 or 15,000 feet the oxygen is there again. 33,000 is what, roughly 5 miles. at terminal velocity (damn you too cute and your metric system) i think its like 130mph or so (again assuming that they werent going for the headlong dive) so....maybe, just maybe they were concious for most of it. but i would think the sheer terror of it all would cause some kind of brain overload and cause you to black out. but if not....would you eventually get tired of screaming on the way down, and just enjoy a once in a lifetime experience?

<IMG SRC=http://subgenius.com/bigfist/pics6/a-misc-/dr-tripp/mush.JPG width=300 height=100>

[HordeKing1]

It's not just oxygen deprivation in the case in question. People pass out quickly from hypothermia at that altitude - from the cold itself and from the shock of the freezing (and very limited supply of) air entering their lungs.

<img src="http://members.aol.com/rnfpantera/hking1">

[FUNKMAN]

....would you eventually get tired of screaming on the way down, and just enjoy a once in a lifetime experience


why did i laugh at this?

<img src="http://www.markfarner.com/2001tour/ribfest8_small.jpg">

[sr71blackbird]

My friend is a NY City fireman and said he saw the people who jumped out of the world trade center. He had always thought that a fall from that height would make you pass out, but sadly, they screamed all the way down until they hit. Scarey! He was forever changed after that.

[HordeKing1]

Jet Disaster: 33,000 feet
WTC Terrorist attack: Max fall of 1,353 (if person was standing at very top of tower)

Clearly there is a substantial difference.

<img src="http://members.aol.com/rnfpantera/hking1">

[DarkHippie]

Fortunately for them, the answer is no. Humans cannot survive at that altitude w/o supplemental oxygen. Therefore even if they survived the sudden decompression, they would lose consciousness shortly afterwards b/c of lack of oxygen.

Surviving at high altitudes is possible but it requries a long period of acclimitization.
Would this be the opposite of "the bends" where the sudden decrease in pressure causes blackout (without acclimation), or is that because of the nitrogen build up and not because of oxygen forced from (or not getting to) the body?

<IMG SRC=http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/darkhippie2.gif>
<marquee>"And there are times when you are walking/ and looking and seeing/ everything in a brand new light/ Like trees with three trunks wrapped around each other tight/ Like her legs 'round my body in the middle of the night" --"Colleen's Song", <a href=http://www.Osvaldooyolaortega.com>Osvaldo Oyola Ortega</a>
</marquee>
<i>LABELS ARE FOR PRODUCTS, NOT PEOPLE! DON'T HUG A TREE, PLANT ONE!
</i><a href=http://www.freeopendiary.com/entrylist.asp?authorcode=A537085>Gonads and Strife: a journal</a>

[ADF]

If it were me, I'd start singin' that Tom Petty song in my head.

<center><a href = "http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com"><img src = http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/adftron.gif title = "2%" width = 300 height = 100></a>
Do you know the way to San Jose?
</center>

[FUNKMAN]

If it were me, I'd start singin' that Tom Petty song in my head.



what's that: "Even The Losers"

sorry, nothing personal...

i would think Free Falling would be more appropriate...

<img src="http://www.markfarner.com/2001tour/ribfest8_small.jpg">

[HordeKing1]

DARK HIPPIE - Water exerts a tremendous amount of pressure. At 33 feet a diver's lungs contract to half their normal size because there is twice as much pressure as normal on the air in their lungs. When the diver surfaces, the air expands and the lungs return to normal size.

(BTW, 33 feet is the magic number for water pressure. 33 feet is twice pressure, 66 is thrice, 99 is quadruple.)

When a diver is down at about 100 feet (I like round numbers) for a certain period of time, nitrogen from the air in his lungs will dissolve in the water in his body. If the diver were to swim quickly to the surface, the nitrogen is released quickly into the bloodstream (like infusing gas into water to make selzter). This is called the "bends" and is fatal or in a best case scenerio, extraordinarily painful and involves a long time in a decompression chamber.

To avoid the bends, divers have to make several steps at different depths so that the nitrogen gas can come out slowly.

This is different than the acclimitization to lower amounts of oxygen done by mountain climbers who want to survive on lower amounts of oxygen than they are accustomed to. That process takes many months and gradual exposure every day. Decompression stops don't acclimitize the diver to greater depths, it just lets the gas that's already there out slowly.

<img src="http://members.aol.com/rnfpantera/hking1">

[sr71blackbird]

Id hate to be in a plane that broke up and Im falling and seeing everything but am powerless, that would be terrifying

<center>
http://www.osirusonline.com/sr71.gif </center>


<center><B>My Thanks to Reefdwella for the sig-pic!</B></center>

<center><B><strike>Folgers and Lava</strike></B></center>

<marquee behavior=alternate><font size=1>( o Y o )</marquee>

[DC Reed]

after reading all this, my hands went immediately weak. crazy.

<IMG SRC="http://dcreed.freeservers.com/images/dcrampage.gif">

Reed 0 Fallon 2
Dolphins vs Patriots


<marquee behavoir

[sr71blackbird]

resurrecto d' oldpostio

<center>
http://www.osirusonline.com/sr71.gif </center>


<center><B>My Thanks to Reefdwella for the sig-pic!</B></center>

<center><B><strike>Folgers and Lava</strike></B></center>

<marquee behavior=alternate><font size=1>( o Y o )</marquee>

[FUNKMAN]

i miss Horde King!

<img src="http://satelitecam.com.co.nr/sig_funkmanstill.jpg">

[Johnathan H Christ]

i dont know who that drtyluv person is, but man... he sure sounds smart and charming.

<IMG SRC=http://members.aol.com/miketeachr/logo width=300 height=100>
"his very conception was an act of animosity, why shouldnt his entire life be one as well?"

[zoom2457]

All the questions in this post are the reasons I won't fly anymore.

I just don't want time to think about the fact that I'm about to die.

"Excuse me, excuse me I believe you have my stapler"

[Mike Teacher]

i miss Horde King!


Me too. sigh...

Anyway:

Yeah yer out like a light from that kind of explosive decompression.

If you want to show someone the bends; just use any plastic bottle of soda. The CO2 is dissolved in the Soda; just substitute N2 for CO2 and blood for soda.

Or a Beer.

Sodas under pressure; you unscrew that top, and you start to see bubbles form and rise up. That's it. The sudden decrease in pressure allows the N2 that is dissolved to come out as gas.

Another note on falling: I was reading somewhere, gotta find it, about people who jumped off the Golden Gate bridge to kill themsleves, but lived. Believe me it's a small minority, but some live. And each of them commented that the Moment they jumped; whatever problem or anguish or anger or feeling that led them to jump vanished, and all they could focus on was, wow, this is going to kill me.

Makes whatever you jumped for seem not so bad, i guess...

<IMG SRC="http://members.aol.com/miketeachr/newsig">