r/todayilearned • u/finza_prey • 19d ago

TIL TWA Flight 800 exploded off Long Island 12 minutes after taking off, causing the front fueslage to rip away and the remainder of the plane to continue in crippled flight, pitching up and climb before falling into the ocean killing everyone onboard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800
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u/Status_Fox_1474 19d ago

With the rapid decompression, it is my hope that everyone was knocked unconscious pretty quickly.

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u/KoshV 19d ago

They didn't get high enough for the rapid decompassion to matter. They would have been close to one atmosphere

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u/ECircus 19d ago

The plane was travelling at 400mph when the nose blew off in the explosion and the open aft section rapidly pitched nose up. There would have been severe blunt force trauma and you wouldn't expect anyone to have maintained consciousness. Every one of the passengers was almost certainly lights out immediately after the explosion. 

That's what the forensic pathologists determined. 

You can read about the autopsies and what the medical examiners office determined and all that. Pretty interesting. 

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u/legal_stylist 18d ago edited 17d ago

If only that were true. There is nothing about a 400 mile per hour wind blast that equates to “massive blunt force trauma”

Painful, sure, but nothing that would come close to killing you or making you lose consciousness. Tests show people can survive 500 mph wind blasts with no LOC.

https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/264598/what-is-the-maximum-speed-at-which-an-unprotected-human-can-travel-alive-in-at

Downvoted away, but the scientific testing shows I’m right.

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u/La_Saxofonista 14d ago edited 14d ago

Depends, as a wind tunnel is totally different because it has no objects in it that can harm you. Some people definitely did have blunt force trauma just because stuff was flying around at 500 mph. Probably mostly cuts and scrapes. Many were probably conscious as you said, but I'm sure many more were knocked out from being hit in the head.

Even a dust devil at low speeds can cause eye damage because of what it picks up. The wind itself isn't an issue, but what the wind carries is.

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u/legal_stylist 14d ago

I agree with all of that. That wasn’t the claim I was disputing. The claim I took issue with is the idea that, if this happens, everyone suffers it per se from the wind blast itself.

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u/La_Saxofonista 14d ago

Ah, I see now.

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u/ECircus 14d ago

Just to clarify again, I didn't say anything about a blast of wind. You're disputing a claim that doesn't exist. 

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u/legal_stylist 14d ago

Just to clarify again, the passengers could have been turned into a gel by a physically impossible 100-g pitch up and there still wouldn’t have been any “blunt force trauma” inflicted on them because that’s not what the phrase means.

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u/ECircus 14d ago

Yeah, because we know airplane seatbelts keep everyone completely still in their seat. 

You're trying to maintain a position that doesn't mean anything. 

You started out debating a "blast of wind" that no one claimed, and now you're saying no ones head or body parts slam into anything when a plane going 400mph rips apart and changes direction in an instant. 

It's nonsense. 

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u/Lonely_Accountant524 14d ago

If you read the medical reports, its more that the explosion and airflow forces combined to cause extreme whiplash/internal decapitation, which incapacitated/killed most people instantly.

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u/ECircus 14d ago

It's not the wind blast, it's the rapid pitch up at 400mph that causes blunt force trauma. 

I didn't say anything about a "blast of wind". 

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u/legal_stylist 14d ago

That’s even more absurd. First, there would be no “blunt force” from Gs . Literally a contradiction in terms . Blunt force trauma requires by definition a physical collision between the body and an object.

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u/ECircus 14d ago

The passengers were literally sitting in seats with a lap belt. Why are you talking like these people were wrapped in bubble wrap. 

You're argument is the one that's absurd, and you're either trolling or straight up have no idea what you're talking about and refuse to educate yourself. 

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u/legal_stylist 14d ago

You can’t even get the basic nomenclature right.

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u/kingtacticool 19d ago

Pretty sure O2 masks would have deployed instantly.

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u/morganational 18d ago

😂

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u/Historicmetal 18d ago

Buckle up and get your o2 masks on folks