News Panic on board Caribbean Airlines flight

[FADEC]

It depends on your country. In the UK it is 17. You can fly before that as a co-pilot or for lessons but you cannot hold a PPL until 17.

And it also depends on the type of licence. I don't know about the UK or USA, but in Germany it is 21 for the ATPL, 18 for the CPL and obviously also 17 for the PPL like in the UK. But I think it is the standard ages for all ICAO contracting states ([ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Civil_Aviation_Organization"]International Civil Aviation Organization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame])

Wrong.

you'd still need multi-engine and IFR ratings to fly a 707.

...which can be all extensions of your PPL. You don't need a CPL or ATPL to get multi-engine and IFR ratings and type ratings to fly a 707 or even 747 (Travolta also has got a type rating for the 747 as well). If you have got the money, you can do type ratings of your choice just to extend your PPL. It just does not make sense as soon as you want to work as a commercial pilot. In that case a CPL or ATPL is impassable, or the latest type of licence which Air Berlin pilots in Germany get: MPL - Multi Crew Pilot Licence, which does not include a PPL or CPL anymore.

 

[Urwumpe]

People should forget what they have seen in movies. You won't black out immediately./QUOTE]

Wrong, you CAN black out immediately if the conditions are right: If the pressure drops so rapid that your brain is directly send into shock. If you have a relative slow loss of pressure, you can stay awake for some minutes, but rapid pressure drops mean usually that you are maximal awake for 15 seconds, which is pretty immediately.

 

[FADEC]

People should forget what they have seen in movies. You won't black out immediately.

Wrong, you CAN black out immediately if the conditions are right: If the pressure drops so rapid that your brain is directly send into shock. If you have a relative slow loss of pressure, you can stay awake for some minutes, but rapid pressure drops mean usually that you are maximal awake for 15 seconds, which is pretty immediately.

It depends on the cruising altitude. At 30k feet (which is about the usual crusing altitude for a 737) the TUC is up to three minutes (depends on your individual dondition and age). And the TUC is not the time until black out. It just says when a pilot can become unable to perform tasks efficiently. You get 15 seconds until you might become unable to perform your flying tasks efficiently at or above 40k feet however. But it still does not mean a black out. But of course you "can". Especially if you suffer from heart or lung diseases, you already can black out below 30k feet while for a healthy person it takes several minutes.

 

[Urwumpe]

It depends on the cruising altitude. At 30k feet (which is about the usual crusing altitude for a 737) the TUC is up to three minutes (depends on your individual dondition and age). And the TUC is not the time until black out. It just says when a pilot can become unable to perform tasks efficiently. You get 15 seconds until you might become unable to perform your flying tasks efficiently at or above 40k feet however. But it still does not mean a black out. But of course you "can". Especially if you suffer from heart or lung diseases, you already can black out below 30k feet while for a healthy person it takes several minutes.

That is slow decompression, not rapid. If you for example have a massive bulkhead failure, the rate of change in pressure causes more damage to your body as the pressure itself.

 

[Adelanthal]

Fabri91, that's a modified combat takeoff, designed for minimizing exposure to shoulder-launched Surface-to-Air Missiles. Kind of exciting to see a C-5 pull one of those.

 

[FADEC]

That is slow decompression, not rapid. If you for example have a massive bulkhead failure, the rate of change in pressure causes more damage to your body as the pressure itself.

A rapid decompression "can" reduce the TUC by 50% but you still might not necessarily black out by that time. Depends all on the cruising altitude. Take Aloha Airlines Flight 243 as an example. It also was a 737. The explosive decompression, which even tore off part of the roof, occurred at 24k feet. At that altitude the TUC is up to 6 minutes. But even whilst a part of the roof was missing, I never heared or read about black outs. At 40k feet it might have looked different though. But that's worst case scenarios and not something like an outflow valve issue etc.

Passengers don't black out at a moment's notice only because of cabin pressure issues. But that's what most people think and so they might start to panic. Oxygen masks did not save any lifes yet. Only if your body is exposed to a vacuum, you are expected to black out between 6 to 9 seconds.