Is it possible for someone to be sucked out of an airplane due to explosvie decompression?

Question

I know that a person could be sucked out because of the wind velocity, but if we remove wind velocity from the equation could a person be sucked out due to only the pressure difference?

Could you please give me evidence supporting your answer?

Answer 1

Av8trxx is right, and for the suckers who got sucked in by mythbusters, .... all fool you.

Answer 2

For all the right answers, I say good work. For the mythbuster fans, you need to go back and watch that again. They proved a bullet fired from a hand gun would not cause explosive decompression.
My first thought was about the Aloha 737. If you saw the pics, you would wonder how more people were not killed. The seat belts were fastened on all passengers. Several got frostbite due to the altitude at decompression and the stewardess was the only one killed.
Your question is not a likely scenario inasmuch as the craft would have to be parked on the ground with the fuselage pressured up, and that won't happen.

Answer 3

Well, that all depends on the REASON for the explosive decompression.

If it is due to a small break in the pressure vessel, then no. If it is due to a large break in the pressure vessel, like in a window or a fuselage rupture, then YES someone could very possibly to be sucked out.

In fact, that has happened at least TWICE due to a break in the window. One incident was fatal the other not:

Nonfatal British Airways incident-
"...The left windscreen, which had been replaced prior to the flight, was blown out under effects of the cabin pressure when it overcame the retention of the securing bolts, 84 of which, out of a total of 90, were of smaller than specified diameter. The commander was sucked halfway out of the windscreen aperture and was restrained by cabin crew whilst the co-pilot flew the aircraft to a safe landing at Southampton Airport."
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19900610-1

Fatal National Airlines event-
"....the No. 3 engine fan assembly disintegrated and fragments penetrated the fuselage the Nos. 1 and 2 engine nacelles, and the right wing area. As a result, the cabin depressurized and one cabin window, which was struck by a fragment of the fan assembly, separated from the fuselage. The passenger who was sitting next to that window was forced through the opening and ejected from the aircraft...."
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19731103-0

Tell that to the Mythbusters!

Answer 4

There is one more accident not listed here, the Aloha 737 that became a convertible. The aircraft was subsequently scrapped.

One of the flight attendants that was walking through the isle when it happened was sucked out.

Another is the United 747 when its cargo door came open and 9 passengers were sucked out. That aircraft was repaired and placed back into service.

Answer 5

a UNITED AIRLINES flight from HAWII had a cargo door on a 747 come open and it made hole in side of the fuseladge the rapid depressurization caused some people setting in that area to leave the a/c( probely did't have seat belts on.
also a flight attendant on the HAWIIAN AIRLINEs A/C that the top came off of left the a/c when it happened . she would not have been wearing a seat belt.

Answer 6

yep, mythbusters proved it's a myth. the compressed the fuselage of an old jet as if it was at 34k feet and detonated an explosive and proved that all you get is a brief wind effect but nothing gets sucked out - unless of course the explosive is big enough to blow your seat out the side of the airplane, in which case you go bye-bye. it's not from being sucked out, however.

Answer 7

nope... they proved it on myth busters....