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EXPLOSIVE DECOMPRESSION: WHAT IS IT AND HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?

Aircraft are pressurised because air is very thin at their cruising altitudes, which range between around 30,000 and 40,000 feet (5.7 to 7.6 miles above sea level).

Humans can't breathe very well at these heights, which means our bodies get less oxygen - a process called hypoxia that can cause slower thinking, dimmed vision, and even death.

Another life threatening effect of a depressurised cabin is 'the bends', which affects scuba divers if they resurface too quickly. 

A dramatic drop in pressure can cause excess nitrogen to come out of the blood stream as gas bubbles, resulting in joint pain, paralysis and can also kill.  

To prevent all of these complications, the cabins of many aircraft are pressurised to near sea level pressures, which makes breathing in an aeroplane about the same as breathing at sea level.

Explosive decompression happens when something causes the cabin to rapidly lose its pressure. This may be because of a failure in the structure of the plane or a collision with an external object. 

Air is constantly trying to push out of this high-pressure environment into the lower pressure of the exterior. When a sudden hole into the outside world is opened, air rushes out of the craft.

In some cases, passengers and objects who are sat very close to this opening could be sucked out by the force of the escaping air.

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