On ground the electronics bay is accessible from the outside through a lever operated hatch in front of the nose gear door. It is used by ground service crews.
If we consider the loss of MH370 as some kind of outside hostile act we can assume that it would have been manageable to get at least one person into the e-bay already on the ground with or without outside help either by this hatch or by the cabin while the aircraft was parked on the apron.
I had a similar thought. I have to wonder how difficult it would have been for someone in that location to depressurize the cabin to neutralize all resistance from that location, then go up to cockpit and take control. This could explain some of the directional changes by a captain who was suffering from hypoxia.
I feel like there might be too much of a logical process being assumed when a partially trained dupe could have accomplished the same thing while heading towards a promised rendezvous
It compresses air into 20 PSI chamber with N2 adsorbed, leaving 90% O2. This is mostly released to patient, some back through the chamber to release N2. Weigh 10 pounds or less, binocular sized case, batteries lasts most of a day, can be recharged from 12V, 120V, 240V, 100W. In 2009 FAA approved for 19+ passenger aircraft. $100-1000. So sea level is 21% O2 at 14.7 PSI is 3.09 pPSI O2. 39,000 ft 3.52 PSI require 88% to totally replace sea level O2. 49,000 ft would be like 10,000 ft pPSI O2.
So, you're suggesting this is a piece of equipment that hijackers could bring aboard a plane, avoiding bans on bottled gases in carry-on bags, that would allow them to stay conscious and active after depressurizing the plane?
FAA approved. Just say they have COPD. Not sure if prescription is required. Actually I would suggest Pilots and one steward per cabin have one on until descending for landing to reduce bends, be ready for depressurization incident like Helios or Payne Stewart. It feeds to a tube under the nose with the prongs into nostrils. Just need ti inhale through nose.
There is only a few seconds of O2 in the compression chamber, so not enough for an explosion risk. And only enough flow for 1 person so nothing like Apollo1.
(1) the concentrator absorbs oxygen from ambient air, so after depressurization the oxygen concentration is much lower
(2) it doesn't come with a pressure-breathing mask (like the captain has in the cockpit), so the device suffers from the same problem as the standard masks in the cabin which are not pressure-breathing masks.
Thanks, Peter. It's an interesting idea, I hadn't heard of it before. Of course there's any number of ways the perpetrators, whoever they were, might have managed the passengers and crew, depressurization only being one of them.
On ground the electronics bay is accessible from the outside through a lever operated hatch in front of the nose gear door. It is used by ground service crews.
If we consider the loss of MH370 as some kind of outside hostile act we can assume that it would have been manageable to get at least one person into the e-bay already on the ground with or without outside help either by this hatch or by the cabin while the aircraft was parked on the apron.
I had a similar thought. I have to wonder how difficult it would have been for someone in that location to depressurize the cabin to neutralize all resistance from that location, then go up to cockpit and take control. This could explain some of the directional changes by a captain who was suffering from hypoxia.
I feel like there might be too much of a logical process being assumed when a partially trained dupe could have accomplished the same thing while heading towards a promised rendezvous
Don't forget about portable oxygen concentrators. Runs most of the day, rechargeable from outlets, 100% O2 at 42,000 ft would be equivalent to ground level, 100% at 53,000 ft is equivalent to 10,000 ft. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WGHHru9CEGDdzjE6SWihBewuPjkWGwHN9IAtpG7iyzc/edit?usp=sharing
I'm not familiar with this. This would be a piece of equipment that, without bottled oxygen, would be able to provide breathable air at altitude?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_oxygen_concentrator
It compresses air into 20 PSI chamber with N2 adsorbed, leaving 90% O2. This is mostly released to patient, some back through the chamber to release N2. Weigh 10 pounds or less, binocular sized case, batteries lasts most of a day, can be recharged from 12V, 120V, 240V, 100W. In 2009 FAA approved for 19+ passenger aircraft. $100-1000. So sea level is 21% O2 at 14.7 PSI is 3.09 pPSI O2. 39,000 ft 3.52 PSI require 88% to totally replace sea level O2. 49,000 ft would be like 10,000 ft pPSI O2.
So, you're suggesting this is a piece of equipment that hijackers could bring aboard a plane, avoiding bans on bottled gases in carry-on bags, that would allow them to stay conscious and active after depressurizing the plane?
FAA approved. Just say they have COPD. Not sure if prescription is required. Actually I would suggest Pilots and one steward per cabin have one on until descending for landing to reduce bends, be ready for depressurization incident like Helios or Payne Stewart. It feeds to a tube under the nose with the prongs into nostrils. Just need ti inhale through nose.
Very interesting, thanks. I'd never heard of that.
There is only a few seconds of O2 in the compression chamber, so not enough for an explosion risk. And only enough flow for 1 person so nothing like Apollo1.
@jeffwise : I don't think this works, because
(1) the concentrator absorbs oxygen from ambient air, so after depressurization the oxygen concentration is much lower
(2) it doesn't come with a pressure-breathing mask (like the captain has in the cockpit), so the device suffers from the same problem as the standard masks in the cabin which are not pressure-breathing masks.
Thanks, Peter. It's an interesting idea, I hadn't heard of it before. Of course there's any number of ways the perpetrators, whoever they were, might have managed the passengers and crew, depressurization only being one of them.
Sure thing! Just thought that someone might want to practice this shut down in a sim, before taking it airborne
https://search.bangkokpost.com/search/image_detail?imageId=114775
Intriguing, what is this??
some big debris found by fisherman. south gulf thailand, ashore, in 2016,thai newspaper
Interesting, I hadn't heard of it before. Presumably if it was found to have come from a 777 the Thais would have turned it over to the Malaysians.
https://search.bangkokpost.com/search/image_detail?imageId=71963
Good morning Jeff! Any way of finding out if the Russian's have purchased a similar simulator?
-Kal in SF
They have entire 777s, so they definitely would know all this stuff.