Originally Posted by
RAT 5
I wonder what altitude the cabin finally reached. It is the descent, asa much as the climb, where ear problems can occur. A few decades ago there was an Air Europe B757, out of Bangor I believe. They decompressed at crz level. During the emergency descent there were numerous complaints amongst pax & CA's of ear damage/problems. I don't know what the cabin climbed to. If the cabin climbs to crz level, or above 25.000', and then descends at 6000fpm there is a strong chance of ear drum problems.
I suspect when the NTSB-FAA report comes out, there will be a data tabulation/curve showing the change in cabin altitude versus time- My GUESS is that it may have reached 16,000 to 18,000 feet,sinc it was likely that the pressurization system reduced the rate of depressurization. Somewhere there should be design or test data- regulations which would accommodate the loss of one window at cruise altitude.