(For those of you who are concerned about depressurization problems with your
MV aircraft, especially from stray bullets, you may wish to read this.)
MV bulletin #138-A1, updated 05 Oct 01 - Subject: Depressurization:
Sudden cabin depressurization does tend to cause an interruption of airflow
that could, although unlikely, affect your ability to control your MV plane,
much like a severe wobble would do after your MV deuce truck impacts a chuck
hole at above 56.1 mph.
As you may recall a Hawaiian air transport blowout sucked a stewardess out
through a gaping hole caused by a stress fracture that instantly peeled back
the plane's roof for a distance of about 40 feet from the point of origin.
Despite the massive damage, this plane was still a very controllable as no
vital controls were damaged. And therein is the key. Damage. It is the
unpredictable collateral damage associated with a blowout, not the blowout
itself. The subsequent flyability is directly affected by the speed and
altitude of your MV aircraft and that would likely determine the relative
danger to your passengers and crew.
“Explosive” or rapid decompression makes quite an impression on your senses.
Your ears pop, your eyes water, dust flies in the cockpit and the temperature
plunges below freezing. Water vapor in the “cabin” may instantly condense as
fog. If you were in a MV transport plane, warning lights would glare and/or
warning horns would blare.
In your MV aircraft, you have a small fraction of the time to respond to the
incident compared to pilots of say an airliner, because of the relatively
small cabin air volume escaping from the pressure vessel. Moreover, you're
probably cruising at a considerably higher flight level than most airliners,
increasing the severity of the problem. Immediately, you and your passengers
would need supplemental oxygen. If you get your mask on properly and start
the flow of oxygen, you will recover in as little as 15 seconds, even if you
are on the verge of unconsciousness.
There you have it, a summary of a blowout and what you need to do to safely
operate your MV aircraft. So when the time comes, go ahead and shoot the
bastard. You'll likely not have a problem you can't deal with.
Keep em flyin, er rollin... whatever
Jack Lee
PS Try a .38 cal glazer slug, works great.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Dec 07 2001 - 00:36:24 PST