Cabin decompression

Cabin decompression

1. When an opening occurs due to a structural failure in a pressurized cabin of an airplane -be it commercial or military., the air will immediately escape through said crack causing the cabin pressure to decrease until it equals the outside atmospheric pressure.

   • Decompression can be classified as explosive, fast or slow:
     • Explosive decompression
       • Explosive decompression occurs at a faster rate that air can escape from the lungs, typically in less than 0.1 to 0.5 seconds.2 4
     • Rapid decompression
       • Rapid decompression typically takes more than 0.1 to 0.5 seconds, allowing the lungs to decompress more quickly than the cabin.
     • Slow decompression
       • Slow or gradual decompression occurs when it is slow enough to go unnoticed and can only be detected by instruments.

2. Uncontrolled Decomprehension

   • is an unplanned drop in pressure in a sealing system, such as an aircraft cabin, and typically results from human error, material fatigue, engineering errors, or impacts