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Would it really? Subsonic airliners already fly high-enough to kill passengers if they depressurized. The oxygen masks that drop are only a stop-gap to give t

Would it really? Subsonic airliners already fly high-enough to kill passengers if they depressurized. The oxygen masks that drop are only a stop-gap to give the pilot time to drop down to a safer altitude (and the pilots have an independent, superior, source of bottled oxygen.) Humans can survive a hard vacuum briefly, if they're repressurized promptly. Perhaps putting the pilots in pressure suits would be sufficient. I think it's a matter of how quickly pilots could descend with the plane, which is probably a complicated question for aviation engineers to solve. This all said, only pilots getting pressure suits probably wouldn't inspire passenger confidence.

api 6y ago
Also unlike Concorde today it is quite possible to make the plane fly itself if the pilots and crew all pass out. If all the meat sacks pass out, drop out of mach and drop down in altitude, send SOS, find somewhere to land. At this point ground control could start commanding the plane remotely too. We are not quite ready for pilotless passenger planes, but pilotless as a fallback is viable.
TylerE 6y ago
At the 60k ft the Concorde flew at, a loss of pressure results in loss of consciousness in 10 seconds (or less). They already had unusual emergency procedures. You can't just mindlessly descend because that would overstress/overspeed the airframe.
- liability 6y ago
  The passengers don't strictly need to stay conscious, though the pilots certainly do need to. I do wonder how likely a total and rapid loss of pressurization is to coincide with the plane remaining airworthy at all though. I'm guessing most survivable scenarios involve a less than immediate depressurization, which would buy the pilots more time to save the passengers. And of course I doubt the pilots would be doing anything mindlessly, let alone responding to an emergency.. In any event, I think the Concorde proves that operating at that altitude is feasible. It's not like 60,000 feet at supersonic speeds is survivable. The pilots would have minutes to get down before passengers were brain damaged. The chemical oxygen generators giving oxygen to the passengers don't last long, not nearly as long as the oxygen bottles for the pilot/crew, and that's assuming the passengers can get the masks on.
  - TylerE 6y ago
    Chemical oxygen isn't enough. At a pressure altitude of 60,000ft you cannot get even close to the equivalent of 20% o2 at sealevel.
    - liability 6y ago
      You're right, apparently Concorde used bottled oxygen for the passengers and cabin crew too. I didn't find any information about how long that was meant to last though.

api 6y ago

Also unlike Concorde today it is quite possible to make the plane fly itself if the pilots and crew all pass out. If all the meat sacks pass out, drop out of mach and drop down in altitude, send SOS, find somewhere to land. At this point ground control could start commanding the plane remotely too. We are not quite ready for pilotless passenger planes, but pilotless as a fallback is viable.

TylerE 6y ago

At the 60k ft the Concorde flew at, a loss of pressure results in loss of consciousness in 10 seconds (or less). They already had unusual emergency procedures. You can't just mindlessly descend because that would overstress/overspeed the airframe.

liability 6y ago
The passengers don't strictly need to stay conscious, though the pilots certainly do need to. I do wonder how likely a total and rapid loss of pressurization is to coincide with the plane remaining airworthy at all though. I'm guessing most survivable scenarios involve a less than immediate depressurization, which would buy the pilots more time to save the passengers. And of course I doubt the pilots would be doing anything mindlessly, let alone responding to an emergency.. In any event, I think the Concorde proves that operating at that altitude is feasible. It's not like 60,000 feet at supersonic speeds is survivable. The pilots would have minutes to get down before passengers were brain damaged. The chemical oxygen generators giving oxygen to the passengers don't last long, not nearly as long as the oxygen bottles for the pilot/crew, and that's assuming the passengers can get the masks on.
- TylerE 6y ago
  Chemical oxygen isn't enough. At a pressure altitude of 60,000ft you cannot get even close to the equivalent of 20% o2 at sealevel.
  - liability 6y ago
    You're right, apparently Concorde used bottled oxygen for the passengers and cabin crew too. I didn't find any information about how long that was meant to last though.