

Could you survive Germanwings 4u9525 by jumping out? - josephagoss

Would it at all be possible to survive Germanwings 4u9525 by opening the door and jumping out at the optimal* point of its decent?<p>Some things to consider:<p>1) If a passenger had a parachute, does this make a difference?<p>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.<p>3) The wind speeds going across the door would be 700km&#x2F;h. Can a human even jump into such a force without being torn into pieces?<p>4) Obviously without a parachute, the best we can hope for is slowing down from 700km&#x2F;h to terminal velocity. Some people have survived terminal velocity falls so this might be worthwhile.<p>5) Any other scenarios I have not considered?<p>*Not sure what the optimal would be, if any.
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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.

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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...](http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2015/03/28/germanwings-tragedy-how-
to-protect-against-mentally-ill-pilots/)

~~~
rbanffy
Even a slight increase in survival chances is worth a shot.

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dkersten
True and you can still jump out after an attempt if you're high enough that
there's time.

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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.

