> 120 passengers sucked out of cargo plane....

[Dr Mordrid]

Jeeezzzzz.....

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030509_1209.html

Dr. Mordrid

[GT98]

What a way to go!

[ZokesPro]

It was not known how many people were on the plane or whether they had seats or seatbelts. People in Africa often travel on modified cargo planes that have few seats, leaving most passengers to cram in among their belongings in the rear of the aircraft.

Not good, not good at all!

[Novdid]

Yes, sad indeed.

BTW, it wasn't 33 000 feet, it was 2200m.

[Tjalfe]

like the height really made much of a difference for falling.. 2.2KM is pretty far to fall still
..Imagine how much time you get to think about the sudden impact *shudder*

[Wombat]

Originally posted by tjalfe
like the height really made much of a difference for falling.. 2.2KM is pretty far to fall still
..Imagine how much time you get to think about the sudden impact *shudder*

Actually, I'd rather have it at 30,000ft. With only a mile, you might actually bounce. Non-instant death.

[MultimediaMan]

At 30K you'd rather rapidly fall into shock from oxygen deprivation and the freezing termperatures: time to impact would be about 1.2 minutes.

At 7000 Feet, it would take roughly 20 seconds for a solid object to hit the ground. You'd be wide awake through the entire ordeal.

You would be at terminal velocity at just past 3,000 feet...so it wouldn't matter.

[Dr Mordrid]

At 30k a HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jumpers free fall is closer to 2 minutes or more, not 1 minute 12 seconds (1.2 min). 1:12 works out to a free fall of about 19k. Been there.

I would expect that someone thrashing around in anticipation of their demise would provide a bit more air resistance than a jumper, so it might even take a few seconds longer. No, they would not necessarily go unconcions immediately....unfortunately.

Conciousness duration at altitude without bailout bottles (O2) can be estimated by tables. The FAA gives these numbers;

Alt. (ft) Time

40,000: 15 seconds
35.000: 20 seconds
30,000: 30 seconds
28,000: 1 minute
26,000: 2 minutes
24,000: 3 minutes
22,000: 6 minutes
20,000: 10 minutes
15.000: indefinite

presuming good health and non-smoker.

In this case it may have been advantageous to be in ill health and a smoker since that would put 'em out quicker.

Dr. Mordrid

[Jon P. Inghram]

Heck, if I was gonna die in a airplane accident, that's how I'd rather go... nice long fall then nothing (or try to aim for a tree or something and roll the odds and hope you end up with just some broken bones, IMHO. Although never having been in the air I guess I havn't had a chance to really think about it too seriously.

I read a news piece that claims it was "only" 17 people.

[Technoid]

What a shitty way to go

[The PIT]

Poor people.

Sad we have to discuss how fast they died.

[KvHagedorn]

Originally posted by MultimediaMan
At 30K you'd rather rapidly fall into shock from oxygen deprivation and the freezing termperatures: time to impact would be about 1.2 minutes.

At 7000 Feet, it would take roughly 20 seconds for a solid object to hit the ground. You'd be wide awake through the entire ordeal.

You would be at terminal velocity at just past 3,000 feet...so it wouldn't matter.

Define terminal velocity as you are using it here, please. Terminal velocity as I have understood it is the velocity at moment of impact, not some set speed at which a person must definitely die.

[SitFlyer]

Thanks Doc for stating good facts

Did you know, the record free fall speed, done without any special equipment, is 321 MPH

A typical skydive for me is in the 140 - 160 MPH range, for the freefall portion

An excellent article, with references, on the speed of a skydiver (terminal velocity)
can be found here

[Tempest]

Geez, that wasn't very nice.

With my luck, I would burst into a crazy hysterical laughter in mid-air. This would relax my entire body so that I would not actually die when hitting the ground, but instead become a vegetable and live on to die at a healthy age of 110.

Off Topic:

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Go here and read the section about unlucky skydivers

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[gt40]

Originally posted by KvHagedorn
Define terminal velocity as you are using it here, please. Terminal velocity as I have understood it is the velocity at moment of impact, not some set speed at which a person must definitely die.

Terminal velocity is the maximun velocity a free falling object will achieve in the atmosphere.
Although you need a certain distance to attain it, the velocity will not increase past this point, due to the drag the air has on the body.