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Old November 26th 07, 10:31 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Stefan
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Default Bad Week for Airbus

george schrieb:

Point out to me where I am wrong...


Your mistake is, that the quantity of gas which can be solved in water
is proportional to pressure. So you mustn't think in absolute
quantities, but in relative.

Example: At flightlevel 360 (give or take a few) the atmospheric
pressure has dropped to roughly a quarter. So, solutionwise, climbing
from sea level to FL360 has roughly the same effect as a diver which
climbs from a water depth of 100ft to the surface (at sea level). Now if
you're saturated at 100ft (and we are saturated!), and then suddenly go
up to the surface, you *will* encounter serious decompression disease. I
would expect the same in a sudden pressure loss at FL360.

Of course the two situations are not exactly the same, because in
aviation there is a much smaller quantity of gas involved. (Besides that
the cabin pressure is usually not equal to sea level but to something
like 7000ft.) I would expect some air forces to have seriously studied
this, and plenty of literature to be available, because the climb rate
of fighter jets allow for such critical pressure changes. But frankly, I
don't know anything about it, except that your reasoning was wrong. But
then, at the climb rate my glider gives me, I guess that I needn't to
worry anyway, even in strong wave.