Decompression Event in an airliner

[The SnowShow]

I would think a heavier 777 would handle turbulence better than a lighter 787?

[frorider]

http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=572633

...discusses some design factors re: turbulence

[jackstraw]

Correct that my case was a slow decompression event. No one got sucked through any holes in the fuselage and no body passed out from lack of oxygen. The worst part was the dive and the effect of the pressure changes on all the kids' ears. If I would have been flying by myself, I would have enjoyed the experience more

I would have been fucked by the pressure change. My ears can't handle a regular flight. It sucks. I didn't always have an issue until a flight when I was around 30yrs old. I wanted to cut my head off I was in so much pain and I really had no idea wtf was going on. The pain goes down your neck behind your ear and into core of your brain...or somewhere like that fucking brutal! Since then I've had to use those ear pressure reducing plugs and even with those I sometimes have issues. If I have any kind of head congestion I don't even want to get on the plane.

[NW_SKIER]

I would have been fucked by the pressure change. My ears can't handle a regular flight. It sucks. I didn't always have an issue until a flight when I was around 30yrs old. I wanted to cut my head off I was in so much pain and I really had no idea wtf was going on. The pain goes down your neck behind your ear and into core of your brain...or somewhere like that fucking brutal! Since then I've had to use those ear pressure reducing plugs and even with those I sometimes have issues. If I have any kind of head congestion I don't even want to get on the plane.

I flew to Anchorage once with a sinus infection. On the descent, I couldn't get my ears to pop. That is some unreal pain! When they finally popped my nose started bleeding like a broken pipe. That was not fun.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Did your brain come out your nose? Might wanna get that checked. I don't get many nose bleeds, but onetime I was picking my nose and I think I accidentally removed whatever plug was keeping my brain from draining out. Certainly explains a lot.

[Dantheman]

Carbon Fiber = higher %RH w/o corrosion issues = more comfortable.

Also, cabin pressure is equivalent to ~6k ft vs 8.5k ft. Makes a big difference for most people, supposedly. I've yet to fly in one but would love to, mostly for the hudge windows.

[NW_SKIER]

Did your brain come out your nose? Might wanna get that checked. I don't get many nose bleeds, but onetime I was picking my nose and I think I accidentally removed whatever plug was keeping my brain from draining out. Certainly explains a lot.

Not sure. But this is how I felt.

[Timberridge]

Buck up you pussies. I'm surprised nobody is bitching that on their last flight they ran out diet ginger ale. That will come on page 4.

You all would have shit your pants flying daylight B-17 missions over Germany in the big one; and pissed your pants in a DC-3 that shook and flexed like a '72 Gremlin.

Where are the real men today?

[St. Jerry]

Has anyone else had the pleasure of experiencing one of these?

Long version of the story:
Saturday the 25th of February my family and I (wife and two kids 4 and 7) were travelling to Orlando to go to the most magical place on Earth.
The United flight from Burlington, VT to Newark, NJ on a small commuter jet went fine. The weather when we left Burlington was 70 degrees. We landed in a hot Newark, NJ a little over an hour later. We traversed the airport to our next flight and made it to the gate with plenty of time to grab some food and drinks before boarding our connecting flight to Orlando. Boarding went smoothly but I was keeping an eye on the weather. A strong cold front was rapidly approaching that contained strong thunderstorms and winds. We pulled back from the gate and then the captain came on to inform us that due to the storms, all departing flights were grounded until the weather cleared. They gave us free movies and we sat on the tarmac for over about an hour and a half before they brought us back to the gate a deplaned everyone. 20 minutes later they put us back on. Of course the family (Scandinavians) that were sitting behind us apparently decided they didn't need to stay near the gate . They arrived back on the plane literally sweating about 20 minutes after everyone else was seated. The kids were getting super antsy about getting to Disney at this point.

And now the fun really begins...

We took off in our 737 from Newark, NJ bound for Orlando. Everything seemed fine and we reached cruising altitude around 35,000. Shortly after, as I was watching a movie, I noticed that the nose of the plane dropped and we seemed to be going into a sharp decent. I quickly flipped stations to the flight tracker screen. By the time I got there I saw that we had already dropped below 30,000 and we were dropping quick. At about 25,000' kids started screaming as they couldn't adjust pressure in their ears fast enough. Then the flight tracker screen went blank (along with all of the other screens of people still watching their movies). Then the oxygen masks dropped. I put mine on first as they instruct you to do then turned to my 4 year old that was sitting next to me. He was screaming and pulling at his ears. My stupid mask kept sliding off as I tried to keep the mask on my 4 year old. He kept pushing it off as he was totally focused on the pain in his ears.
A couple minutes later I feel the plane level off and the captain comes on and explains that the plane had experienced a pressure leak issue and that the plane had safely descended to a survivable altitude under 15,000'. We could now take off the masks. We continued to fly for another 15 minutes or so before landing at Washington-Dulles to a greeting of flashing lights of the airport's fire-safety crew.
We deplaned, and United graciously put us up in a hotel for the night. Of course by the time we got to the hotel we were only there for 4 hours before we had to return to the airport early the next morning to get on our new plane.

TL/DR
Decompression while flying sucks, especially for kids. I don't want to do that again and I'm not sure if my wife will ever want to fly again.

About as bad as my 4-year old telling me as we are just boarding the plane "Daddy, my ear hurts."

It turned out to be 2.5 hours of hell with my 4-year old screaming the 4-year old equvilant of "FUKCING KILL ME NOW! JUST FUKCING KILL ME!).
good times

[summit]

Buck up you pussies. I'm surprised nobody is bitching that on their last flight they ran out diet ginger ale. That will come on page 4.

You all would have shit your pants flying daylight B-17 missions over Germany in the big one; and pissed your pants in a DC-3 that shook and flexed like a '72 Gremlin.

Where are the real men today?

My grandfather certainly enjoyed switching over to the faster pressurized B-29 from the unpressurized B-17. Now it costs $500 to fly in one for a short time but as a bonus nobody shoots at you.

[Timberridge]

My grandfather certainly enjoyed switching over to the faster pressurized B-29 from the unpressurized B-17. Now it costs $500 to fly in one for a short time but as a bonus nobody shoots at you.

Props and respect to grandpa. One of the tough and lucky.

"One of the most treacherous assignments of the war, flying B-17s in daylight raids. The odds for those who made bombing runs over Germany were brutal: an American air crewman based in England had a 1-in-3 chance of surviving 25 missions."

[PNWbrit]

No, and that sounds gnarly. I like to travel but hate flying. That's borne out of a general dislike of people and having to be jammed into an industrial sized pringles can going 500 knots at 35,000 feet above the earth with these people. It doesnt help that the damn bar has to approach me rather than the other way around. Anyway, I think I can take newfound pleasure in commercial airline travel after my flights a few weeks ago up to Tofino. I was crammed in an 8 seater built during the Eisenhower administration. The kid who "checked me in" (gave me a laminated post-it note that said "boarding pass") at the "terminal" (cubicle in a Vancouver airport terminal that even the airport shuttle driver wasn't ware of), also took me to the plane and then hopped into the pilot seat. He (and not they, as I'm pretty sure he's the booking agent too) sold the copilots seat to a traveler but made sure to tell her that "I would appreciate it if you didnt touch any of the controls during the flight." It was a bumpy ride over the mountains and the only thing between me and freefall was a poorly maintained cheftain and the few brain cells this kid didn't destroy the night before while at a kegger. Small flights are probably old hat for many, but it wasn't my favorite. I expected pitching up and down, but I've never felt crosswinds like that.

Hopefully the kid will graduate to bigger planes soon so he can shut the door on the insufferable twats he has for passengers?

[ColMan]

Damn. That really sucks for the kids. I used to fly a shitload for 5 years and never saw the masks drop once. I did have a near miss on the approach into Denver. Pilot floored it and pulled up at the last minute to miss a small plane that crossed the runway in front of us (made the news). Also had flight where the pilot had to dump fuel above Lake Michigan due to a hydraulic issue just after take off.

[Mazderati]

Coworker's plane was struck by lightning last week. Didn't sound like a fun experience.

More of a WTF situation, a recent flight was rerouted to transport two relief pilots from BWI to IAD. That's about an hour drive. The pilots' new collective bargaining agreement for this airline affords the right to demand air transportation from job to job.

[NW_SKIER]

Also had flight where the pilot had to dump fuel above Lake Michigan due to a hydraulic issue just after take off.

Chemtrails

[Ted Striker]

http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=572633

...discusses some design factors re: turbulence

Not picking on you here, but there is a lot of misinformation in that thread.

The aeronautical design factor that has a direct bearing on how comfortable you'll be as a passenger is wing loading, which in the most simple terms is mass over wing area. If all else is equal, an airplane with higher wing loading will generally be smoother through bumps.

The operator factor is speed. Just like speed bumps in a car, turbulence feels worse the faster you go.

[Ted Striker]

Chemtrails

indeed

[Groomer Gambler]

[Art Shirk]

Hopefully the kid will graduate to bigger planes soon so he can shut the door on the insufferable twats he has for passengers?

Don't change

[Art Shirk]

This always makes me feel better about flying

[Supermoon]

Closest call I've ever had was a nonstop flight from SLC to DCA. Bumpy the whole way for five hours or so. Stormy weather in DC, airports starting to close, etc.

We come down for the landing and I'm casually looking out the window dreaming of being at the bar shortly. We look to be just a few feet off the ground when a big sideways gust hits us and all of a sudden the tarmac under the plane is instead the grassy median. Pilot doesn't hesitate and hits the gas (gotta love those badass pilots who don't hesitate). We ended up having to circle for a few minutes but they re-opened a runway at Dulles to get us on the ground cause we were running out of gas.

I've heard that the DCA runway is technically too short for those planes, but that some Senators came together to give them an exception so they didn't have to fly into Dulles.

[PNWbrit]

Don't change

Oh I'm sorry, was your raging on puddle jumper pilot piece satire?

[Art Shirk]

Oh I'm sorry, was your raging on puddle jumper pilot piece satire?

Rage? Calm down and come back when you are ready to have some fun.

[riser4]

Moral of this thread: pilots are BAMFs.

The original Bad Mother Fucker:

[billyk]

My close call in an airplane. We are about a hundred feet off the ground on the initial climb, when all of a sudden I hear "bam!", and then a sound like a load of rocks tumbling in a dryer coming from the engine right next to me. We circle around and land pretty quickly and then park over in a corner of the field where a fire truck arrives to watch over us. They didn't feel the need to hose us down, but we had to depart the plane and take a bus back to the terminal. Put about a 4 hour delay in my trip.

Yeah, I guess no big deal, but I sometimes think about how much worse that could have turned out.