Was that thunder? Nope, a bunch of sphincters slamming shut simultaneously.

[BehindBlueI's]

United flight diverted to Indy after dropping 10,000 feet mid-air | Fox 59

United flight traveling from Charlotte to Chicago was diverted to Indianapolis after dropping 10,000 feet mid-air.

 

[EvilKidsMeal]

Yea no thanks, I'll drive. I don't even like when they drop a couple feet in turbulence.

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

That does not sound like a good day.

 

[DocIndy]

Just what I wanted to see... I will be flying back to Indy on Wednesday!

 

[Frank_N_Stein]

I soiled myself just thinking about it.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Wheeeeee!!

 

[17 squirrel]

I soiled myself just thinking about it.

Yep... I wonder how many passengers slipped Mudd when this happened ?

 

[calcot7]

How exciting that must have been!

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

Wheeeeee!!

That was my first thought. . .

 

[indykid]

Add this incident to your list of airline safety. Remember, these planes got beat to heck and landed safely. It is amazing how much of a pounding a modern airliner can take and still get everyone home.

Delta Airlines flight from Boston lands in Denver after hail damage | Fox News

 

[Birds Away]

BBI has a knack for painting a lovely mental image.

 

[Punkinhead]

Interesting headline. "Mid air". As opposed to what?

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Interesting headline. "Mid air". As opposed to what?

A buddy of mine who's a helicopter pilot explained to me that "mid air" is where you want to be. Apparently its the edges of the air that are dangerous, while the middle is pretty safe. The top edge is space, which seldom troubles helicopter pilots. The bottom edge is ground, trees, or water, which can very much trouble helicopter pilots.

 

[BugI02]

“There was a pressurization issue and our crew safely brought the plane down to a lower altitude,” said Jarek Been, a spokesman for ExpressJet. “There was no unexpected drop.”

from O'Hare-Bound United Flight Plunges 10,000 Feet, Forced to Land in Indy | Elmhurst, IL Patch

In the event of pressurization failure, the regulations require a descent to 10000 ft or below (air at breatheable atmosheric pressure) in 3 minutes or less. If one was at a normal cruise altitude of the low 30s thousand feet, thats around 7000ft per minute or more and about 7 times the fastest descent you would normally encounter. The chemical oxygen generators that supply emergency oxygen to the cabin (what caused the ValueJet crash in the everglades) can only supply the demand from the passengers for the time necessary to descend. All flight crews practice this maneuver in the simulators so loss of control is unlikely but probably some scary moments for the uninitiated

 

[Roland of Gilead]

[video=youtube;77-pNVbE0Uw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77-pNVbE0Uw[/video]






It probably did not look like this.

 

[Mgderf]

"Coming in low is just something you have to do when you land..."

 

[ArmedProgrammer]

I'm not sure that my sphincter would be exactly slamming errr... shut...

 

[Redtbird]

Ah...

Reason Number 38 for never getting on an airplane again.

Last flight June 1987.

 

[indykid]

Ah...

Reason Number 38 for never getting on an airplane again.

Last flight June 1987.

Just remember, these planes landed safely. They are that safe these days. The real reason not to fly is that you give up your constitutional rights as an American citizen to just get into the boarding area of an airport.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Meh. Done it over 500x.




Of course I USUALLY do it WITHOUT the plane...