Una due TFc
Altitude - Moderate Activity - Sitting Quietly
25 000 feet - 2 minutes - 3 minutes
28 000 feet - 1 minute - 1.5 minutes
30 000 feet - 45 seconds - 1.25 minutes
35 000 feet - 30 seconds - 45 seconds
40 000 feet - 18 seconds - 30 seconds
45,000 feet - ?? seconds - ?? seconds
These are the quoted figures and close to what we are taught for depressurisation
A private jet flying a celebrity Golfer had a rapid depressurisation and was discovered flying on autopilot by fighter jets who went up to check the aircraft out after no response from the crew.
All the crew and PAX who would have all been of differing fitness levels were dead.
We know this Passenger jet was flying at an average of FL350 and the average temperature was -55. The flight time was 8 hrs. The temperature in the wheel well would have been higher than -55 maybe -30 to 35?
i brought a private jet back from Cypress to the UK with a failed heating system to the maintenance unit. We aimed to fly at 18000 all the way in warmer air but were forced up to FL340 by a huge wall of CBS over Greece and Croatia
The outside temperature was minus 50 and with no heating the temperature inside the cabin dropped to minus 20C not minus 50C
it got so cold especially around the floor area I had to fly crossed legged with my feet on the pilot seat and could not feel my feet. We could have elected to use unfiltered air from the jet engines to heat the cabin but instead diverted into LJLJ to thaw out and then set off again at FL 180 We had no PAX. So my guess the temperature in the wheel well would be around -30 to -35 c with an outside temp of =50 to -55C.
Even if you double those survival times printed above for a super fit guy that gives him 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds of consciousness.
This flight was 8 hours !
i am sorry but either the figures used for ATPL training are massively inaccurate or something does not add up.
Maybe the extreme cold extended his life period with minimal oxygen ??
I know a child was saved after falling through ice and had been underwater for an hour before being rescued.
This was because of the extreme cold which had slowed the body system right down to a level where the child survived on negligible oxygen.
So if anything the extreme cold would have kept the person alive the lack of oxygen killing him. It is also known with extreme brain damage that reducing the core body temperature allows the brain to recover while the body system is on snail pace and a cometic state. Normal body core temperatures would mean rapid death.
i am not medically qualified but remember reading that the normal heart rate of 70 BPM with reduced core body temperatures will drop to 5 to 10 BPM so it would be the extreme cold which would extend life on minimal oxygen.
Maybe someone medically qualified can comment?
And no I don't recommend anyone flying a jet with no heating it was hell
But then I have done some crazy stuff