[amluto]

That was not terribly informative. It failed to usefully address at least two obvious questions:

1. How dangerous is rapid decompression at 40k ft? Would it kill or incapacitate people?

2. Is there any mechanism in the plane to automatically descend to a safe altitude in the event that cabin pressure is lost and the crew is incapacitated? (What is a safe altitude, anyway? 10k feet is breathable, but mountains taller than that are not especially unusual.)

[ceejayoz → amluto]

Cockpit crew have rapidly deployable oxygen masks in their headrests (edit: or otherwise near), and train to don them very quickly.

Good vid of how quickly they can access and wear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgLSTimJ868

The plane won't descend on its own unless it's part of the regular flightplan and it's on autopilot.

[sio8ohPi]

The physicist quoted does not appear to make the claim given in the headline.

[tekla]

Piece of rag article that doesn't explain anything useful.