Originally Posted by TSB report
During the pitch excursion, the aircraft pitch changed from the cruise attitude of 2 degrees nose up, to 6 degrees nose down followed by a return to 2 degrees nose up. The vertical acceleration forces (g) went to −0.5 g to +2.0 g in 5 seconds.
Lets assume that the initial dive was gentle and you floated up to the ceiling a height of say 2.5m max above the floor. Your relative velocity is zero, then the plane hits 2g. How fast do you hit the floor, the arm of a chair etc..
v^2 = u^ + 2as
Assume:
u^2=0
a = 2g
V= SQRT(4gs)
so
V= SQRT (2 * 2 * 9.8 * 2.5)
V= 10 meters per second.
Thats 22mph into the relatively solid floor or the arm of a seat etc. That's going to cause injuries.
http://www.ite.org/technical/Interse...edestrians.pdf
"The fatality rate for a pedestrian hit by a car at 20 mph is 5 percent."