Video: Nightmare at 20,000 feet
posted at 11:00 am on July 25, 2008 by Allahpundit
Send to a Friend |
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
A mysterious “explosive decompression,” a swirl of debris inside the cabin, the masks come down, the plane drops almost four miles in the air. And naturally some guy in coach thinks, “I need to film this,” and whips out his video camera.
We’ve all imagined what it would be like; well, here you go. Even knowing that it landed safely, I could barely watch. Exit question: Spilled coffee?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
The Australian reported about a half hour ago that the plane had a history of corrosion problems. The ‘door’ story seems odd as the hole is at the wing root. The cargo door on the 747-400 is about 10 feet further forward of that point.
Limerick on July 25, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Rain Man was my 1st thought.
TheSitRep on July 25, 2008 at 11:05 AM
I’ve got too active of an imagination to fly. Every bump, noise, slight drop…I’ll end up with a heart attack before we ever hit the ground if something like this happened to me. I can’t watch it…not if i ever want to fly again. eeek.
austinnelly on July 25, 2008 at 11:07 AM
The sphincter factor is high with this one.
wccawa on July 25, 2008 at 11:09 AM
I’ve seen some news accounts compare this to the Aloha Airlines decompression in 1988, when a 737 had the top of its fuselage peel off near Maui.
But there was also another similar incident the following year when a United 747 had a similat decompression shortly after takeoff from Honolulu on its way to Australia. In that one, a cargo door failure at 22,000 or so feet caused a decompression that blew out several rows of seats, sucking 9 people out to their deaths. It turned out to be caused by a flaw in the cargo door design.
Del Dolemonte on July 25, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Man, that’s some strong coffee.
Rhinoboy on July 25, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Where is Tony737 when you need him????? Come in, Tony!
Limerick on July 25, 2008 at 11:11 AM
That and riding passenger on a motorcycle in a rain storm.
BL@KBIRD on July 25, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Watching that video, it made me think of the first episode of “Lost.” Although not as hectic or violent, it made me think about how frightening that situation is. The people were very calm and professional.
jencab on July 25, 2008 at 11:11 AM
i hate flying, even the thought of it.
trailortrash on July 25, 2008 at 11:14 AM
I was on a plane from JFK to Sarasota, Fla. back in high school, during a huge April snowstorm. Airport was closed before I got there, and my 4 pm flight finally left at 2am…to Orlando yet…and over Virginia, the plane all of a sudden dropped 10,000 feet, the “ding ding ding” went off, the masks dropped.
And just like here, it’s not like the movies where everyone is screaming…it’s dead silent as everyone kinda glances around with “that look” on their face, like death is only moments away.
Something I’ll never forget. And it never made the news. Still don’t know what happened. I’m sure no explosion tho.
JetBoy on July 25, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Coffee going to be banned on flights now?
- The Cat
P.S. If this stands as the official cause you know it’s coming.
MirCat on July 25, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Would you kindly… ?
lorien1973 on July 25, 2008 at 11:18 AM
If that’s not enough to make you pray to Jesus nothing will. People seemed fairly calm considering how obvious it was that the aircraft was in serious trouble. I doubt the aircraft “dropped” four miles, I think it would be more accurate to say the pilots immediately took the aircraft lower, which I believe is standard procedure for a decompression. Scary stuff.
Maxx on July 25, 2008 at 11:18 AM
Fox is reporting that there was some sort of an explosion, but investigators are not saying it was caused by an explosive device…
Buy Danish on July 25, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Where was the obligatory row of seats getting sucked out of the gaping hole in the bulkhead?
Valiant on July 25, 2008 at 11:21 AM
Yea I could see a corrosion problem and not the door, most likely a bunch of rivets. Had something like this happen on a P-3 once though not a leading edge. TFOA.
joeswampy on July 25, 2008 at 11:21 AM
From the one picture that I have seen, it looks like a couple of rivets at the leading edge of the panel at the base of the wing gave way, leading to the entire panel being ripped off. If you look in the upper right portion of the hole, you will see a couple pieces of the panel that were not ripped off, the lower edge of those pieces has a smooth tear, parallel to the bottom of the plane. This gives further credence to this speculation.
Fortunately this piece is far enough back that the chances of any pieces being sucked into the engines (ala the Hawaiian 747 mentioned earlier) are just about nil.
Speculation about corrosion seems justified. The plane apparently was used on the Hong Kong to somewhere in Australia route, which would tend to support corrosion speculation. Exposure to salt air and all that.
MarkTheGreat on July 25, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Woops, I meant to ad that Fox was not loath to mention that Bin Laden hatched a plot to blow up planes in… the Philippines. Suspicious minds are probably not going to accept the spilled coffee explanation.
Buy Danish on July 25, 2008 at 11:29 AM
I’m sure there were lots of conversions to Christianity during that flight. “Oh God!” prayers are the most sincere.
I’d be clapping too at the end of that flight.
Mojave Mark on July 25, 2008 at 11:30 AM
I actually was on a trans-Atlantic flight and soemthing similar happened … an engine blew out and the plane immediately corkscrewed down to under 10,000 feet before the pilots gained control. It happened without warning of any sort — Later they told us the engine had blown up suddenly. The screaming and yelling was intense. The racket made by the dead engine in the cabin was overwhelming.
We were just short of halfway, so returned to Heathrow. Four hours of terror. I can feel the terror the passengers must have felt.
I wonder how the failure got through the cabin floor, it’s pressurized so the structural floor is ’sealed’. Hmmmm
tarpon on July 25, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Last line of the story, for those of you who feared flying before…
Ferris on July 25, 2008 at 11:35 AM
LOL. Really.
Buford Gooch on July 25, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Where is Tony737 when you need him????? - Limey
Oh, sorry, I was hiding in the AFT Lav, crying like a baby! haha
Looks like they handled it quite well, good job Quantas!
Tony737 on July 25, 2008 at 11:37 AM
If I had been on that flight, I would have been picking pieces of seat cushion out of my posterior for weeks! An amazing performance by the flight crew!
rmgraha on July 25, 2008 at 11:39 AM
… I doubt the aircraft “dropped” four miles … -Maxx
Upon depressurization, the auto-pilot will automatically drop the plane down to 14,000, at that altitude you no longer need the mask … but keep it on anyway, until the Crew says you can take it off.
Tony737 on July 25, 2008 at 11:41 AM
Hell yeah.
And it’d take a while to unclinch my hands from the armrests as well.
omnipotent on July 25, 2008 at 11:44 AM
… it’s not like the movies where everyone is screaming…it’s dead silent as everyone kinda glances around with “that look” on their face … Jet
A friend of mine was working that flight that skidded off the runway, she said you could hear a pin drop!
Tony737 on July 25, 2008 at 11:45 AM
I believe the cargo compartments in 747’s are pressurized. So the loss of air pressure down there would create a lot of weight pushing down on the passenger compartment floor until something gave and depressurized the passenger compartment.
Even a couple of pounds per square adds up when the floor is as big as it is in a 747.
MarkTheGreat on July 25, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Scary to watch but reassuring also. What happened after the initial problem was exactly what was supposed to happen, the plane and the crew reacted properly and the plane landed safely.
This is a good time to remember that, statistically, these events are very rare.
Gilda on July 25, 2008 at 11:50 AM
Back when I was little my younger sister and I used to fly alone to visit family. It was fun. The flight attendents gave us wings and took us to the pilot’s area. Ah, the good old days. My sister was about 4 or 5 and used to spill almost every drink she ever got. The worst one was V-8. Man, I hope we didn’t cause any air incidents!
mrsmwp on July 25, 2008 at 11:56 AM
They call it “explosive decompression”, so it can sound like a bomb going off. In the United Airline 747 incident I mentioned earlier, the Flight Engineer finally went back and took a look at the cabin, because he couldn’t contact any of the flight attendants. When he saw the damage, he immediately thought it was a bomb.
Read about that incident here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_811
After that accident, they tried re-creating the same scenario on their flight simulators. They were unable to land the plane safely.
Del Dolemonte on July 25, 2008 at 12:02 PM
So what happened to “Assume the crash position“?
Pillow on lap, head down to knees, hands behind neck?
I was surprised to see people sitting upright in their seats. Even one person with her hand outstretched on the seat in front of her!
Wouldn’t you want to assume the worse and have people get ready?
kurtzz3 on July 25, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Tony you aren’t making me “feel” any safer!
upinak on July 25, 2008 at 12:06 PM
It went away, like everything else common sense wise. You expect it not to “change”.
upinak on July 25, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Geez automatically moving the aircraft to 14k doesn’t sound like a good idea. What if you are in the mountains? Tis better to have low oxygen levels in the cabin than to find Mt. Everest in your windscreen. Or does the auto pilot know the distance to ground via radar input or other input?
Maxx on July 25, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Or does the auto pilot know the distance to ground via radar input or other input? - Maxx
Yeah, the plane knows where it is. Radar, GPS, etc. No way it’ll kiss a mountain. You are SO much safer in a plane than in a car.
Tony737 on July 25, 2008 at 12:31 PM
you aren’t making me “feel” any safer! - UpInAK
Haha, just kiddin’, sorry!
It really is the safest way to go … TRAVEL! I meant - safest way to TRAVEL! haha
Tony737 on July 25, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Gaaah! I think I just threw up in my mouth…
whatthecrap on July 25, 2008 at 12:45 PM
“Minor” incident or not, kudos to the pilots & crew.
Raises all around!
artlover on July 25, 2008 at 1:10 PM
Because Quantas is based in Australia, many of its 747 flights are long-haul transoceanic flights. It is not uncommon on a long haul flight to fly the airplane at altitudes of 35,000 feet or even higher. If I’m not mistaken, the Korean Airlines flight that the Russians shot down back when Ronald Reagan was in office was flying at 39,000 feet (or higher). Since a mile is 5280 feet, and 35,000 - 14,000 is 21,000, and 21,000/5280 is 3.98 miles. Thus, it is quite plausible that the aircraft could have plummeted 4 miles.
On the other hand, a flight from Sydney to Hong Kong would probably not be considered a “long-haul” flight — so the aircraft may have been flying a bit lower (like 32,000 feet). After take-off, a 747 will climb in a stair-step fashion, holding at a series of lower altitudes and burning off fuel before going to the next higher altitude, until it finally reaches its maximum cruise altitude.
From the photo, it looks like the wing-to-body fairing on the starboard side blew off of the airplane. I haven’t seen a failure in that particular location before, but that doesn’t really mean anything. When the cargo door blew off of the earlier UAL flight, corrosion was NOT the culprit, but rather the latching mechanism was suspected.
My collie says:
CyberCipher on July 25, 2008 at 1:14 PM
I swear, it’s true. Not a sound in those situations. Your life starts to flash before your eyes.
JetBoy on July 25, 2008 at 1:34 PM
Your collie usually states opinions. I’m impressed that it has also studied the transportation and commodities markets. That’s one hellava dog!
eeyore on July 25, 2008 at 1:39 PM
Terrifying! Looks like the Twilight Zone creature was tearing it apart.
shick on July 25, 2008 at 1:59 PM
What was the movie?
Speakup on July 25, 2008 at 3:04 PM
No doubt the aircraft could have quickly changed altitude to four miles lower. My beef was with the use of the word “dropped” which implies it was not a controlled descent, that was just sensationalism on the part of the media in my opinion. I doubt the word “plummeted” applies either, plummeting four miles and then pulling up would probably snap the wings off. All I’m saying is I’m sure it was a controlled descent, I have no problem with the distance of four miles.
Maxx on July 25, 2008 at 4:39 PM
Of course, it would depend on how heavily the aircraft is loaded with cargo (passengers) and fuel. If I remember my design class correctly, the wings must be designed to withstand a 9-G load with an added wind gust. It is more likely that other parts of the airplane would fall apart before the wings snap off.
Of course, most airplanes are made out of aluminum. Aluminum has a fatigue life. Eventually, the certainty reaches 100% that some portion of the structure will fail somewhere — if the airplane is not properly maintained and repaired.
My collie says:
CyberCipher on July 25, 2008 at 5:00 PM
CyberCipher on July 25, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Your dog is smarter than any Democrat on Capital Hill, but don’t tell him I said that because he might be offended, after all and I admit, that’s a depressingly low standard.
Maxx on July 25, 2008 at 5:28 PM
“I’m sorry. We seem to have lost your baggage.”
desertdweller on July 25, 2008 at 5:41 PM
Every few years, each plane in service is stripped down to its structure. (It’s measured by hours in service and takeoff-landing cycles.) The entire load-bearing structure is checked for fatigue cracks using eddy current detectors, fluorescent dye penetrant, or some other non-destructive, FAA-and-builder-approved method. It takes a month with dozens of technicians working in each of three shifts.
You couldn’t afford to have that kind of care on your car.
njcommuter on July 25, 2008 at 7:27 PM
Tony Seven Three Seven, turn left heading two seven niner, climb and maintain three thousand. Contact departure on one twenty one five. Good day.
Et tu Brute on July 25, 2008 at 8:02 PM
Rain man? I wonder if the local Kmart had enough new underwear for all those poor folks.
boomer on July 25, 2008 at 8:35 PM
This was no accident, far too much damage consistent with an explosive force pressing against the inside skin of the aircraft which caused a fairly big rupture in a contiguous area of aluminum. The rupture does not appear to be along any seam and the tear appears consistent with a large over pressure event. The missing fairing between the wing root and fuselage looks as thought it was blown off the aircraft and not causal to the event. Baggage and cargo are usually placed in containers which are than loaded into the cargo hold, pictures of uncontained baggage indicate an event which breeched the container and then compromised the hull. My money says this was an attempted downing, lets see what the Dhimmi hacks come up with. The aircrew if given the chance will explain exactly what happened. As an aside, the autopilot does only what it is set/programmed to do, any and all recovery actions were initiated and completed by the folks on the flight deck…hands on the yoke and throttles, feet pushin the pedals, autopilot disengaged.
dmann on July 25, 2008 at 10:50 PM