RyanAir plane in 8000m plunge

[Mal]

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24248849-5003402,00.html

PASSENGERS on a Ryanair flight said overnight they thought they were going to die when the low-cost jet plunged 8000 metres after a sudden loss of cabin pressure over France.
"I sent my mum a text (phone message): 'I love you and I am going down'," Charlotte Thorthon, a 22-year-old British medical student, said. "I called her half an hour later and she couldn't believe I was OK."

Sixteen people were taken to hospital for ear problems after flight FR9336 made an emergency landing at Limoges airport in central France but were later discharged.

The Boeing 737 was carrying 168 passengers and seven crew from Bristol in England to Barcelona in Spain when it suffered what French police described as a "brutal decompression" just before midnight on Monday local time.

...continues

 

[Kendall Roy]

"I sent my mum a text (phone message): 'I love you and I am going down',"

Didn't know phones worked at high altitude (unless you obviously have SMS services installed on board).

Happy to be corrected.

 

[dot]

She may have sent it (ie. pressed the send button), but it didn't actually leave the phone until she landed or they got to the bottom of their 8000m plunge (if they were out of range at normal cruise altitude).

I am assuming that Ryanair as a LCC does not provide an on board picocell or inflight phones for sms messages...

British Arctic explorer Pen Hadow, who was on board the flight, said: "Mine wasn't filling up with oxygen and neither was my son's. He was hyperventilating. I looked at the lady on my left and hers hadn't filled up either."

Perhaps Ryanair should add (as other airlines do) that "... if Oxygen masks are deployed, put them on immediately - Oxygen will flow even if the bag does not inflate..."

 

[Evan]

Waiting for photos of big hole in plane !!

Given it was so rapid its hard to explain how they could not find the cause... hmmmm....

E

 

[codash1099]

Maybe it was really QF metal on lease. I think the local press should investigate this possibility with their usual rigour :mrgreen:

 

[rwatts]

Maybe it was really QF metal on lease. I think the local press should investigate this possibility with their usual rigour :mrgreen:

Why investigate to find out the facts ? Its simply not a necessary factor in media reporting on Qantas so I say they should just report it as a Qantas aircraft and stay silent as usual when proven wrong.

Richard.
(Disclaimer: Owner of 65 Qantas shares)

 

[oz_mark]

Given it was so rapid its hard to explain how they could not find the cause... hmmmm....

You'd think - but sometimes these things are hard to track down.

(Consider a BA777 which landed a bit short of the runway at Heathrow, they have the whole plane and as far as I know they still don't know exactly why that happened.)

 

[Evan]

You'd think - but sometimes these things are hard to track down.

(Consider a BA777 which landed a bit short of the runway at Heathrow, they have the whole plane and as far as I know they still don't know exactly why that happened.)

Any of the physics / maths guru's want to do a calculation what size hole would be required to cause such a fast de-presurisation ? Maybe it would only be a small hole i just sorted of guessed it would need to be somewhat large... like atleast tennis ball sized or larger.

E

 

[NM]

Any of the physics / maths guru's want to do a calculation what size hole would be required to cause such a fast de-presurisation ? Maybe it would only be a small hole i just sorted of guessed it would need to be somewhat large... like atleast tennis ball sized or larger.

E

It would not need to be a big "hole". The most common cause of decompression is failure of the pressurisation system (such as an outflow valve).

How rapid is rapid? Even if it took 3 mins to drop pressure, it would still result in the same actions.

 

[NYCguy]

It would not need to be a big "hole". The most common cause of decompression is failure of the pressurisation system (such as an outflow valve).

How rapid is rapid? Even if it took 3 mins to drop pressure, it would still result in the same actions.

Agreed. Decompression doesn't need to be dramatic or explosive to be dangerous.

 

[JohnK]

I know 2 incidents do not make a trend but I am starting to worry....

 

[medhead]

"I sent my mum a text (phone message): 'I love you and I am going down',

If I thought I was going to die, I wouldn't be stopping to send my mum a text about my love life......

 

[albatross710]

Agreed. Decompression doesn't need to be dramatic or explosive to be dangerous.

if the aircraft was cruising at 34,000' (11,000 metres) so the cabin pressure would have been 6,000'. When the aircraft depressurized the cabin alitude increases dramatically. For the majority of people their ears would have equalised without discomfort. Hypoxia would be a greater concern. The 8,000 metre 'plunge' would have taken the aircraft in a controlled descent to a higher oxygen pressure. An 8,000 m plunge was still 3 kms above the ground.

Why do they report standard procedures!

Now an 8,000 m plunge from FL240, that would be news.

 

[JohnK]

Why do they report standard procedures!

Lack of oxygen! How long does it take to bring the aircraft down to 3,000 metres? In that time people can have a heart attack, stroke, panic attacks leading to hyperventilation which can lead to heart attacks or strokes. I am sure there are a few other conditions I can't think of at the moment.

 

[NM]

Lack of oxygen! How long does it take to bring the aircraft down to 3,000 metres? In that time people can have a heart attack, stroke, panic attacks leading to hyperventilation which can lead to heart attacks or strokes. I am sure there are a few other conditions I can't think of at the moment.

It would be a minimum of 5 mins and is likely to be a pretty rough trip as the speed breaks are deployed to maintain appropriate airspeed while maximising the rate of decent.

A decompression that requires supplementary cabin oxygen is always going to be a serious health/safety issue for some passengers, especially those most at risk such as the elderly or those with certain medical conditions.

 

[JohnK]

A decompression that requires supplementary cabin oxygen is always going to be a serious health/safety issue for some passengers, especially those most at risk such as the elderly or those with certain medical conditions.

And I think it is both serious and newsworthy. I was responding to comments from a previous poster suggesting that an 8,000m plunge is not newsworthy if they followed standard procedures....

 

[NM]

And I think it is both serious and newsworthy. I was responding to comments from a previous poster suggesting that an 8,000m plunge is not newsworthy if they followed standard procedures....

I agree its newsworthy. However, the reporting needs to remain in context and not become sensationalist.

 

[straitman]

It would not need to be a big "hole". The most common cause of decompression is failure of the pressurisation system (such as an outflow valve).

How rapid is rapid? Even if it took 3 mins to drop pressure, it would still result in the same actions.

NM,

Agreed entirely, however it's important to remember that the rate of decompression has a significant impact upon the length of useful consciousness for those who don't immediately get onto oxygen.
See my post #92 at QF30-Emergency-Landing-MNL and if the decompression is really slow and the appropriate action is not completed (for what ever reason) then you end up as per posts #154 thru #159 on the same topic.