From: "Kevin Brooks"

snip

Dan, you are forgetting that there was indeed documented evidence of a
passenger being sucked out of a blown window brought out during that
discussion--a TAM Fokker F28 turboprop somwhere over Brazil (see:
www.crashdatabase.com/cgi-bin/
webdata_crashdatabase.cgi?cgifunction=Search&Airl ine=%5ETAM%24 ). There
was
also a fatality during a 1989 Piedmont Airlines 737 rapid decompression
(www.canard.com/ntsb/ATL/89A099.htm ). As to the non-fatal effexcts, the
experience of an Aer Lingus 737 tends to point to some rather significant
injuries during a 1999 depressurization accident, with lots of ruptured
eardrums and severe nosebleeds, etc. I would not disagree that these
potential problems are far outweighed by the threat of some whacko with a
knife/bomb/etc., said whacko being dispatched by an air marshal, even
with
the remote potential of causing a rapid decompression being preferrable
to
the alternative. But the effect of such a decompression is likely going
to a
bit worse than cleaning your tray table off and causing a few earaches.

Brooks



Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired

I was referring to the blown out window. The passenger you refer to was
blown
out a six foot hole according to your cite.

Heh? "Pressurization was lost at an altitude of 33,000 feet when the right
engine disintegrated, causing pieces of the engine to break two cabin
windows." That does not a six foot hole equal.

OK, mia culpa, I was reading the incident just below the flight to which you
referred.

In the incident you cite I wonder what he actually died of considering the only
other injuries were "minor." Heart attack maybe?

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired