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Could you survive Germanwings 4u9525 by jumping out?

1 points by josephagoss ↗ HN
Would it at all be possible to survive Germanwings 4u9525 by opening the door and jumping out at the optimal* point of its decent?

Some things to consider:

1) If a passenger had a parachute, does this make a difference?

2) What would be the best altitude for jumping out? I presume above a certain height the air pressure inside the cabin would be too great relative to the outside pressure to actually open the door.

3) The wind speeds going across the door would be 700km/h. Can a human even jump into such a force without being torn into pieces?

4) Obviously without a parachute, the best we can hope for is slowing down from 700km/h to terminal velocity. Some people have survived terminal velocity falls so this might be worthwhile.

5) Any other scenarios I have not considered?

*Not sure what the optimal would be, if any.

5 comments

[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 21.7 ms ] thread
JorgeGT
A thing to consider is that if you manage to depressurize the cabin by opening the door or otherwise making a hole, an automated mechanism should open the cockpit door (to prevent the differential pressure from blowing it up / damaging the airframe / destroying the plane).

Then instead of jumping to an almost certain death you and your fellow passengers can storm the cockpit, angrily beat up the murderous co-pilot and let the captain guide the aircraft to safety.

dkersten
Then instead of jumping to an almost certain death you and your fellow passengers can storm the cockpit, angrily beat up the murderous co-pilot and let the captain guide the aircraft to safety.

According to this article, that is unlikely to succeed: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2015/03/28/germanwings-tr...

rbanffy
Even a slight increase in survival chances is worth a shot.
dkersten
True and you can still jump out after an attempt if you're high enough that there's time.
rbanffy
Space shuttles had a mast that would extend out the mid-deck door to carry astronauts to a safe position out of the way of the wings in case they had to leave the vehicle in atmospheric flight. I don't think any astronaut ever wanted to actually use it, but it almost certainly beats dying.

Bailing out through a relatively small door at 700 km/h is not something I'd like to try. I think I'd take my chances storming the cockpit.