These shocking new claims follow reports that flight MH370 climbed to between 43,000 and 45,000ft shortly after the last voice communication from the cockpit of the plane.
An aviation industry source, who wished to remain anonymous, told MailOnline: 'It was tracked flying at this altitude for 23 minutes before descending. Oxygen would have run out in 12 minutes [in a depressurised cabin], rendering the passengers unconscious.'
The 777-200ER Boeing aircraft used on the ill-fated flight has a maximum service ceiling of 43,000 feet and can very probably fly safely at even greater heights, one expert said.
But at this altitude, where the atmosphere drastically thins, it would take mere minutes if not seconds for hypoxia - a lack of oxygen - to set in if the cabin was manually depressurised by one of the pilots, as seen in the below video of a high-altitude experiment.
Oxygen masks would have dropped down, but these only supply between five and 10 minutes of gas.
Central Queensland University's head of aviation, Ron Bishop, told MailOnline that a drop in cabin pressure that had knocked out passengers and crew would mean the plane would fly on unmanned until eventually running out of fuel and crashing into ocean.
‘You’d just slowly pass out. But it would have no effect on the plane at all,’ he said.
‘The plane would just keep going until it eventually ran out of fuel.
‘That would explain it all. That plane flew on a very long time, all the way from South East Asia to near the west coast of Australia.’
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发表于 26-3-2014 11:36 PM
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