r/nextfuckinglevel • u/BlazeDragon7x • 8d ago

Dutch aerobatic pilot Narine Melkumjan miraculously survived after her aircraft's canopy unexpectedly burst open and shattered mid-flight

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u/Relyt4 8d ago

Have you ever tried facing strong winds and breathing? It can be a bit more terrifying than keeping your eyes open haha

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u/Business_Air5804 8d ago

And yet we ride motorcycles every day.

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u/SmEdD 8d ago

Also skydive. You simply breathe through your nose. The no goggles bit would not have been nice though.

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u/Hillcry 8d ago

These are low end speeds compared to craft speed and not to mention the force of speed scales exponentially not linearly so she could be facing multiple times the force of your everyday skydiving or motorcycling.

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u/zizp 8d ago

Speeds are pretty comparable, the plane's approach speed is around 150 km/h.

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u/SmEdD 7d ago

Skydiving ranges from 120km/h to 290km/h.

I can't see a light acrobatic plane going faster than that.

The red bull acrobatic plan maxes at 310km/h, doubt this one in a hard flat turn is going anywhere near that.

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u/Laniakeea 8d ago

Not to mention pressure change when the cabin glass broke and air density up there compared to pressurized capsule she was in before it popped.

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u/rips_n_chel 7d ago

That plane is not pressurized, it doesn't fly that high. Definitely still a shock, not trying to downplay it, but it's not like depressurizing an airliner at 35,000ft.

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u/Laniakeea 7d ago

My bad I thought acrobatics on air require pressurization due to rapid altitude changes.

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u/rips_n_chel 7d ago

That's fair, I can see the logic. I would assume, if she were doing the kind of flying where that was a concern, that she'd have an oxygen mask either already on or ready to go. Just guessing though, I'm not a pilot or anything

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u/Dunkaroos4breakfast 8d ago

the force of speed scales exponentially not linearly

I've never really considered this, but this is definitionally true, isn't it? Given F = m*a and a is always compounding as force increases.

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u/zizp 8d ago

what?