Every person who often flies by air knows that flight attendants pay a lot of attention before takeoff to explaining how to use oxygen masks.
"Gently pull the mask towards you to open up oxygen." Sounds easy and simple if you are not trying to do it in a fast decompression environment at an altitude of about ten kilometers.
Rapid decompression
Rapid decompression is an unplanned decrease in pressure under tight conditions. It happens, for example, when someone opens the door of an airplane during a flight, or when an airplane window breaks.
However, statistics show that most of these rapid decompressions occur due to leaks in the structure of the aircraft, resulting from improper repairs.
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What happens if the plane door is opened?
But if the door of the plane is still opened in the middle of the flight, everyone who is nearby will be immediately thrown out. The temperature in the cabin will plummet to very low levels, and the plane itself may begin to fall apart. During the rapid decompression that occurs at cruising altitude, adults will have fifteen to twenty seconds at their disposal, which they must usefully spend before they pass out.
It would seem that this time should be enough to use your mask and help the child next to you, but in conditions of rapid decompression, you will have to take care of many other things. A former airplane pilot on an Internet forum described what it feels like to be under rapid decompression. "Your tongue is in your throat in seconds, your ears start to ache, and your teeth become a thousand times more sensitive." If you do not faint, then the biggest risk that awaits you is hypoxia. Your body will be deprived of oxygen, leading to disorientation, slow heart rate, unconsciousness, and death.
Flight safety
This is why an oxygen mask is the first thing you need to do, as it will help you survive until the pilot takes the unpressurized plane to an altitude where you can breathe on your own. But nervous passengers shouldn't worry too much. The pressure difference outside and inside the plane is too high, making it physically impossible to open doors in mid-flight, which, however, has not stopped people in the past from trying to do so.
At cruising altitude, about three and a half kilograms of mass presses on every six square centimeters of the aircraft. As for the windows, they are designed in such a way as to withstand the monumental pressure from the outside, so the force that a person can apply to them will not care. They are made using a polycarbonate compound and have several thick layers. While fast decompressions are rare, you should still know what to do if something like this happens on board the aircraft you are flying. Make sure all straps are on, you know where the mask will come from and how to use it.
Marina Ilyushenko