A380 whistlebower

[GravityHater]

I have always wondered what the approximate cross sectional area of a fully opened outflow valve is, say on a typical airliner. Are we talking several square inches? Just wanted to get a feel for how much air or air flow would be experienced.

 

[Draginass]

I question why this guy didn't get his family and himself OUT of the political morass in the EU before going public with his opinion.

 

[AdlerDriver]

I have always wondered what the approximate cross sectional area of a fully opened outflow valve is, say on a typical airliner. Are we talking several square inches? Just wanted to get a feel for how much air or air flow would be experienced.

I never stopped to measure. Obviously size is dependent on the aircraft. Most seem to be rectangular and maybe 12 to 14" x 12 to 18". So, 1 to 1.5 sq. ft - give or take a little.

UAL was training us with tasers right after 9-11. In the class, I remember them discouraging pilots from using depressurization as a defensive tactic during a takeover attempt. It was going to take about 10 minutes depending on aircraft type. The masks were going to drop anyway, so it's not like the bad guys were going to conveniently pass out. You have to descend to land, so even if they did pass out, they're probably going to wake up before you land. I still had a Capt (scab - so proven bad judgment anyway) swear it would work and it was going to happen on his aircraft if we ran into trouble. Hell, most places in the USA, I can be on final to a piece of concrete in 10 minutes.

 

[millhouse21]

I'd be more concerned about the lack of a backup controller. I mean, we all know that a software fault could NEVER happen. Right?

 

[BLing]

Interesting. My Texas Instruments TI-86 does the conversion wrong. If you have a TI calculator try doing the conversion from -60 C and it might give you -140 (at least mine does). Maybe the NY times writer did the conversion on a calculator with a conversion feature that was messed up (like I did). Hopefully Texas Instruments was not involved in the development of the A380 =). But, I do find it ironic he was writing an article about faulty software in a microchip and using a calculator with such a fault itself.

Mine does the conversion wrong too. Found that out the hard way in a college physics class I took about 2 years ago.

 

[Ralgha]

TI-89 does the conversion correctly.

 

[A Squared]

+60C = +140F

However, -60C = -76F

Right, which is 108 degrees "below freezing", but that still isn't 140 degrees below freezing

140 degrees below freezing would be -108F or -78 C