Worst way to die?

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

(unless you're Uma Thurman)

Saila wrote: »

fuck that whats the worst way to live!

nuxxx wrote: »

Taking from another forum, read up about it b4. (TL;DR etc) Hes talking about the air france crash

Former big jet pilot here ...

Assuming the early overly-sensational news reports about flying through a thunderstorm followed by electrical problems are accurate, it would have been a pretty exciting experience for all aboard. Perhaps a peak experience for all.

Truly severe turbulence, enough to damage the aircraft, would be insane in the cabin.

Overhead bins would be opening, spilling stuff everywhere. Which would then be bouncing from floor to ceiling, over and over, along with anyone not belted in. There would be a lot of creaking and groaning noises as the cabin interior flexed along with the airframe. There are lots of joints in the interior to let it shift as the airframe flexes in normal flight, and they'd all be getting a max-case workout.

Meanwhile there is nearly continuous lightning outside. And the airplane is rolling side to side 20+ degrees every few seconds. Plus some drunken sideways lurches that are surprisingly unnerving in an airplane.

And 90% of the people are screaming. Maybe not at first, but the above conditions could easily last 5 minutes. Once the least stable person starts screaming, the mob effect quickly takes over.

Had they been lucky, about now they come out the other side of the storm line. Well over half the people have **** themselves, a couple dozen people have concussions or broken limbs from being hit with flying suitcases & stuff. A handful of people with weak hearts have had heart attacks & died. The airplane is fine, and the pilots divert to the nearest airport able to handle the injured. Which out over the Atlantic may be 2+ hours away.


But they weren't lucky.

For whatever reason, the aircraft lost most electrical power and the pilots were flying off standby instruments.

Now it's pitch dark in the cabin (except for the lightning outside). In a cruel irony, the "floor lighting will lead you to an exit" lights will be on. Not that those exits do any good 7 miles up.

Now the pitch and roll gyrations get more extreme. Flying a half-powered airplane off the standby instruments is damn hard.

Maybe they get a little too nose low and within a few seconds are over-speeding. Something breaks off. More likely, they got a little slow and that combined with an updraft caused an aerodynamic stall. if they hit a strong enough updraft, they don't even need to have gotten slow.

Unlike the stalls described by light plane pilots above, stalling a big jet is quite a ride on a good day in smooth air. At night in extreme turbulence, it's the coup de grace.

You'd expect a severe and nearly instant roll one way or the other, easily past 45 degrees, and maybe to 90 degrees or more. (i.e. one wing pointing straight down, the other straight up). Perhaps an engine breaks off as they are designed to do.

Then the aircraft either snaps over the other way, or tries to keep rolling onto its back. Full opposite control inputs may not be enough.

Now the nose starts to fall and the speed pick up. A couple more gyrations and they get it under control. Or they don't, and from on its back they end up diving more or less vertically.

After 10-15 seconds of that, something catastrophic breaks off. A big piece of wing or tail. Now the unbalanced aircraft cartwheels more or less sideways. Within the next few seconds the fuselage breaks into several large pieces. At this point pressurization fails and the people are suddenly exposed to -30 to -50 degree temperatures and low pressure. As well as all the flailing wires and broken airplane chunks whipping around in the 300-600 mph wind. The lightning hasn't stopped either.

Assuming you've got a good heart, are wearing your seatbelt and aren't right at the edge of a chunk, you're still 100% alive, conscious, & uninjured. Scared and doomed, but uninjured.

Due to the extreme adrenaline rush, folks will be using up blood oxygen at a furious pace. Many will lose consciousness due to lack of air pressure at altitude. But far from all.

And because you're falling into thicker air at a pretty good clip, I'd wager all but the elderly will revive to at least a groggy state prior to impact. It'll take 2-ish minutes for the fuselage chunks to fall to the sea. Many will be fully conscious and aware for the entire ride.

The final impact will kill 99% of the people, and critically injure the last 2 lucky (?) souls. Who'll drown as their fuselage chunk sinks with them still strapped in.

All in all, probably a peak experience.

nuxxx wrote: »

Taking from another forum, read up about it b4. (TL;DR etc) Hes talking about the air france crash

Former big jet pilot here ...

Assuming the early overly-sensational news reports about flying through a thunderstorm followed by electrical problems are accurate, it would have been a pretty exciting experience for all aboard. Perhaps a peak experience for all.

Truly severe turbulence, enough to damage the aircraft, would be insane in the cabin.

Overhead bins would be opening, spilling stuff everywhere. Which would then be bouncing from floor to ceiling, over and over, along with anyone not belted in. There would be a lot of creaking and groaning noises as the cabin interior flexed along with the airframe. There are lots of joints in the interior to let it shift as the airframe flexes in normal flight, and they'd all be getting a max-case workout.

Meanwhile there is nearly continuous lightning outside. And the airplane is rolling side to side 20+ degrees every few seconds. Plus some drunken sideways lurches that are surprisingly unnerving in an airplane.

And 90% of the people are screaming. Maybe not at first, but the above conditions could easily last 5 minutes. Once the least stable person starts screaming, the mob effect quickly takes over.

Had they been lucky, about now they come out the other side of the storm line. Well over half the people have **** themselves, a couple dozen people have concussions or broken limbs from being hit with flying suitcases & stuff. A handful of people with weak hearts have had heart attacks & died. The airplane is fine, and the pilots divert to the nearest airport able to handle the injured. Which out over the Atlantic may be 2+ hours away.


But they weren't lucky.

For whatever reason, the aircraft lost most electrical power and the pilots were flying off standby instruments.

Now it's pitch dark in the cabin (except for the lightning outside). In a cruel irony, the "floor lighting will lead you to an exit" lights will be on. Not that those exits do any good 7 miles up.

Now the pitch and roll gyrations get more extreme. Flying a half-powered airplane off the standby instruments is damn hard.

Maybe they get a little too nose low and within a few seconds are over-speeding. Something breaks off. More likely, they got a little slow and that combined with an updraft caused an aerodynamic stall. if they hit a strong enough updraft, they don't even need to have gotten slow.

Unlike the stalls described by light plane pilots above, stalling a big jet is quite a ride on a good day in smooth air. At night in extreme turbulence, it's the coup de grace.

You'd expect a severe and nearly instant roll one way or the other, easily past 45 degrees, and maybe to 90 degrees or more. (i.e. one wing pointing straight down, the other straight up). Perhaps an engine breaks off as they are designed to do.

Then the aircraft either snaps over the other way, or tries to keep rolling onto its back. Full opposite control inputs may not be enough.

Now the nose starts to fall and the speed pick up. A couple more gyrations and they get it under control. Or they don't, and from on its back they end up diving more or less vertically.

After 10-15 seconds of that, something catastrophic breaks off. A big piece of wing or tail. Now the unbalanced aircraft cartwheels more or less sideways. Within the next few seconds the fuselage breaks into several large pieces. At this point pressurization fails and the people are suddenly exposed to -30 to -50 degree temperatures and low pressure. As well as all the flailing wires and broken airplane chunks whipping around in the 300-600 mph wind. The lightning hasn't stopped either.

Assuming you've got a good heart, are wearing your seatbelt and aren't right at the edge of a chunk, you're still 100% alive, conscious, & uninjured. Scared and doomed, but uninjured.

Due to the extreme adrenaline rush, folks will be using up blood oxygen at a furious pace. Many will lose consciousness due to lack of air pressure at altitude. But far from all.

And because you're falling into thicker air at a pretty good clip, I'd wager all but the elderly will revive to at least a groggy state prior to impact. It'll take 2-ish minutes for the fuselage chunks to fall to the sea. Many will be fully conscious and aware for the entire ride.

The final impact will kill 99% of the people, and critically injure the last 2 lucky (?) souls. Who'll drown as their fuselage chunk sinks with them still strapped in.

All in all, probably a peak experience.

some_dose wrote: »

...................................Jesus Christ

nuxxx wrote: »

Taking from another forum, read up about it b4. (TL;DR etc) Hes talking about the air france crash

Former big jet pilot here ...

Assuming the early overly-sensational news reports about flying through a thunderstorm followed by electrical problems are accurate, it would have been a pretty exciting experience for all aboard. Perhaps a peak experience for all.

Truly severe turbulence, enough to damage the aircraft, would be insane in the cabin.

Overhead bins would be opening, spilling stuff everywhere. Which would then be bouncing from floor to ceiling, over and over, along with anyone not belted in. There would be a lot of creaking and groaning noises as the cabin interior flexed along with the airframe. There are lots of joints in the interior to let it shift as the airframe flexes in normal flight, and they'd all be getting a max-case workout.

Meanwhile there is nearly continuous lightning outside. And the airplane is rolling side to side 20+ degrees every few seconds. Plus some drunken sideways lurches that are surprisingly unnerving in an airplane.

And 90% of the people are screaming. Maybe not at first, but the above conditions could easily last 5 minutes. Once the least stable person starts screaming, the mob effect quickly takes over.

Had they been lucky, about now they come out the other side of the storm line. Well over half the people have **** themselves, a couple dozen people have concussions or broken limbs from being hit with flying suitcases & stuff. A handful of people with weak hearts have had heart attacks & died. The airplane is fine, and the pilots divert to the nearest airport able to handle the injured. Which out over the Atlantic may be 2+ hours away.


But they weren't lucky.

For whatever reason, the aircraft lost most electrical power and the pilots were flying off standby instruments.

Now it's pitch dark in the cabin (except for the lightning outside). In a cruel irony, the "floor lighting will lead you to an exit" lights will be on. Not that those exits do any good 7 miles up.

Now the pitch and roll gyrations get more extreme. Flying a half-powered airplane off the standby instruments is damn hard.

Maybe they get a little too nose low and within a few seconds are over-speeding. Something breaks off. More likely, they got a little slow and that combined with an updraft caused an aerodynamic stall. if they hit a strong enough updraft, they don't even need to have gotten slow.

Unlike the stalls described by light plane pilots above, stalling a big jet is quite a ride on a good day in smooth air. At night in extreme turbulence, it's the coup de grace.

You'd expect a severe and nearly instant roll one way or the other, easily past 45 degrees, and maybe to 90 degrees or more. (i.e. one wing pointing straight down, the other straight up). Perhaps an engine breaks off as they are designed to do.

Then the aircraft either snaps over the other way, or tries to keep rolling onto its back. Full opposite control inputs may not be enough.

Now the nose starts to fall and the speed pick up. A couple more gyrations and they get it under control. Or they don't, and from on its back they end up diving more or less vertically.

After 10-15 seconds of that, something catastrophic breaks off. A big piece of wing or tail. Now the unbalanced aircraft cartwheels more or less sideways. Within the next few seconds the fuselage breaks into several large pieces. At this point pressurization fails and the people are suddenly exposed to -30 to -50 degree temperatures and low pressure. As well as all the flailing wires and broken airplane chunks whipping around in the 300-600 mph wind. The lightning hasn't stopped either.

Assuming you've got a good heart, are wearing your seatbelt and aren't right at the edge of a chunk, you're still 100% alive, conscious, & uninjured. Scared and doomed, but uninjured.

Due to the extreme adrenaline rush, folks will be using up blood oxygen at a furious pace. Many will lose consciousness due to lack of air pressure at altitude. But far from all.

And because you're falling into thicker air at a pretty good clip, I'd wager all but the elderly will revive to at least a groggy state prior to impact. It'll take 2-ish minutes for the fuselage chunks to fall to the sea. Many will be fully conscious and aware for the entire ride.

The final impact will kill 99% of the people, and critically injure the last 2 lucky (?) souls. Who'll drown as their fuselage chunk sinks with them still strapped in.

All in all, probably a peak experience.

thomasj wrote: »

Thanks for spoiling it! I was waiting for that episode of air crash investigation to come out!

So ill be seeing ye all on the boat then :P