Quote:
You are absolutely correct that the air in your lungs expands rapidly, which feels weird, causes an involuntary cough/exhalation, but is otherwise not fatal. Sorry, no blood boiling, no blown capillaries, no bleeding, no pain, and no death.
Getting your mask on is in fact your primary goal. At those high altitudes, loss of consciousness can occur in just a few seconds. All my events were in a military aircraft, so I already had the mask on.
Originally Posted by jagbn
Ziggy . . . I must be a zombie then. I have managed to survive two explosive decompressions (both in the low 20's) and one intentional rapid decompression due to smoke in the cockpit, cabin alt going from 12000 ft to FL400 in less than 10 seconds. Yep, 40,000 feet. You are absolutely correct that the air in your lungs expands rapidly, which feels weird, causes an involuntary cough/exhalation, but is otherwise not fatal. Sorry, no blood boiling, no blown capillaries, no bleeding, no pain, and no death.
Getting your mask on is in fact your primary goal. At those high altitudes, loss of consciousness can occur in just a few seconds. All my events were in a military aircraft, so I already had the mask on.
The fact is different people respond to the this differently. Apparently Jagbn has a good tolerance in this area (now if we can only get him to work on his O2 system pre-flights
). While one person may easily pass out quickly in a rapid "D" situation at 35K another may have a few more seconds of useful consciousness.Also a rapid "D" at 20K is a lot different situation then a Rapid "D" at 35K.
Scoop