"On October 25, 1999, a
chartered Learjet 35
was scheduled to fly from Orlando, Florida to Dallas, Texas. Early in
the flight, the aircraft, which was cruising at altitude on autopilot, quickly
lost cabin pressure. All on board were incapacitated due to hypoxia—a lack of oxygen.
The aircraft failed to make the westward turn toward Dallas over north Florida.
It continued flying over the Southern and Midwestern United States for almost
four hours and 1,500 miles (2,400 km). The plane ran out of fuel and
crashed into a field near Aberdeen,
South Dakota after an uncontrolled descent. The four passengers on
board were golf star Payne Stewart, his agents,
Van Ardan and Robert Fraley, and Bruce Borland, a highly
regarded golf architect with the Jack Nicklaus golf course
design company."
Source:
Nobody
knows why this aircraft depressurised. The Learjet is well known to be a most
reliable aeroplane, it is a very popular choice as a Business Jet.
Other
aircraft have depressurised because of the freight doors, for ecample, blowing off in flight
and so, while exceedingly rare, it is not an unknown occurrence.
What
happens?
Well,
let’s think about what might happen at around thirty five thousand feet (about
ten and a half thousand metres).
The
ambient pressure at that altitude is lurking around three pounds per square
inch. Not much. This means that the air is below a pressure that might be
regarded as ‘breathable’. The oxygen content of the atmosphere will be limited
and, certainly, inadequate to sustain life.
The
temperature, according to the International Standard Atmosphere approximates to
minus fifty-six degrees Celsius. This is extremely cold.
But it is
the lack of pressure that will get you.
On a
passenger aircraft a sudden drop in cabin pressure will initiate a response
from the emergency breathable oxygen system. Facemasks will suddenly drop from
above the seats to dance enticingly in front of each occupant of the aircraft.
The
instructions given to passengers include the need for adults to see to their
own masks first and then, when theirs is fitted, to apply the mask to the
children.
Naturally,
a mother will want to see to the squirming, and frightened, child first. She
will have difficulty in doing this and so both of them will now die.
So
quickly? Indeed. It is that low pressure that sucks the air out of your lungs;
it is that low pressure that stops your lungs from extracting what little
oxygen there is.
Combine
that with the shock of being plunged into a temperature of minus fifty-six
degrees Celsius.
Most of
the passengers will die in the first few minutes.
The rest
will gradually go to sleep and slip away into death through hypothermia soon
afterwards.
What
about the crew?
The
flight crew have their own oxygen supply. It is still very cold but they do
have oxygen.
The
problem they face is that they have to reach it. The mask does not appear in
front of their face as with the passenger system, they have to physically turn
and grasp the facemask, remove it and put it on. This takes time.
What if
they are fumbling? Shock does strange things.
They will
get hypoxia—oxygen starvation.
Watch
soccer referees and you will see that they run further than any of the
players, generally speaking. Notice that they make most of their (perceived)
mistakes at the end of the match. Why? Hypoxia. Their brains are being starved
of oxygen through all that running. Superbly fit though they certainly are,
they will still get oxygen depletion.
Lack of
oxygen makes decision making problematical.
Maybe the
pilot has oxygen starvation or, perhaps, it is the first officer given that the
pilot may be already deceased. Now, thinking that he is flying in a straight
line he is, in reality, pursuing an erratic course around the sky involving not
just change of direction but change of height, too.
Eventually
he, too, succumbs to the cold and ultimate oxygen deprivation. The autopilot
holds a steady course on the last heading given until the aeroplane runs out of
fuel.
The
engines stop but the batteries will give thirty minutes of emergency electrical
power to essential services and so the autopilot, even with the engines
stopped, holds the aircraft on course.
It glides
gently down until it alights on a reasonably calm sea.
Maybe the
engines are torn off and, perhaps, a wing. But these are major components that
are lost, there is no huge break up into small parts to float around the ocean
for rescuers to find.
The
engines sink immediately and the wing will go down once the sea has flooded the
fuel tanks through the tank vents. And then the fuselage drops through the
depths because it fills with water through the missing freight door.
Remember
the missing freight door?
Everybody
on board died hours ago. Peacefully, in their sleep.
Speculation.
In reality,
flight MH370 was abducted by aliens...
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