PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Is there a expensive air decompression system
Old 17th Jul 2022, 18:36
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MechEngr
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: USA
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On descent the aircraft interior will start re-compression. If it doesn't then the fuselage can be crushed by outside air pressure. Your eardrums feel the same pressure change and should equalize via the Eustachian tubes. Yawning, or pinching off the nose while slightly exhaling, as scuba divers do when they descend to higher pressure depths, can force air pressure to equalize.

The only technology answer is to build a far stronger fuselage so that the pressure at altitude is closer to the pressure on the ground. Increased pressure increases the stress on the fuselage which can lead to fatigue failures which are avoided by shortening the number of pressurization/depressurization cycles. It's been a concern since the initial designs for Comet aircraft led to crashes.
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