Worth pointing out that it is highly unlikely for an airplane window to either smash or pop out — they’re multi-layered Lexan reinforced panes mounted from the inside. And they’ve all got a hole on the inside pane so that a controlled decompression with a loud whistling would happen long before the entire pane would give way. This would likely provide time for the masks to drop and the pilot to adjust altitude long before any explosive decompression (if that even occurred).
Likewise, doors are designed not to open at altitude.
So the only weak spots these days are door plugs and the bathrooms.
Pedant, but the pressure difference between 1 atmosphere and zero isn’t all that great, so explosive decompression wouldn’t happen even in the worst case scenario. Rapid yes, explosive no.
To be explosive you need something like the Byford Dolphin diving bell incident, which was 9 atmospheres to 1 in a fraction of a second.
Worth pointing out that it is highly unlikely for an airplane window to either smash or pop out — they’re multi-layered Lexan reinforced panes mounted from the inside. And they’ve all got a hole on the inside pane so that a controlled decompression with a loud whistling would happen long before the entire pane would give way. This would likely provide time for the masks to drop and the pilot to adjust altitude long before any explosive decompression (if that even occurred).
Likewise, doors are designed not to open at altitude.
So the only weak spots these days are door plugs and the bathrooms.
Pedant, but the pressure difference between 1 atmosphere and zero isn’t all that great, so explosive decompression wouldn’t happen even in the worst case scenario. Rapid yes, explosive no.
To be explosive you need something like the Byford Dolphin diving bell incident, which was 9 atmospheres to 1 in a fraction of a second.
True, unless it’s a Boeing.
out of personal curiosity, why is the bathroom concidered a weak point? I understand the door plug but I figured the bathroom is a locked down area