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Student pilot successfully lands plane after instructor jumps to death mid-flight (www.dexerto.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world
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Flight instructor: "Do your best, lol."

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[–] 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Maybe he did mid air from a heart attack

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Doubt it. A smaller plane will be around 15,000ft which would mean the fall would be about 1 and a half minutes to impact. I also doubt they were at that altitude so it would be less than that. Unless it was fast and massive I dont think you can die that quick from a heart attack. Passing out would be the best case scenerio, but even that is probably low chance as well.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

    FYI- much lower. At 15,000’ you need oxygen (or pressurized cabin), which most small planes do not have. I don’t think you’d need a supercharger yet, but many engines would be struggling

    I was a passenger on a small plane where they only had oxygen for the pilots. I believe it was at 15,000 ‘. It was surreal: it didn’t take long for the blackness to start closing in from the sides until I could only see a small tunnel in front of me. I don’t know if I should have been worried for my life but I clearly would not have been capable of flying.

    A standard air breathing small Plane without supercharger or other altitude adaptation, can take a long time and a lot of fuel to get up to 15,000’ as the engine gets weaker with thinner air. It’s generally not worth trying to go this high unless you’re in a longer trip (the article doesn’t say anything about the plane though so if it had a supercharger and oxygen, then disregard this. Nothing I say applies to anything with a turbine)

    One of the most common training aircraft is a Cessna 152. Google tells me it has a ceiling of 14,700’. It can’t even reach 15,000’ (depending on air pressure)

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