Fox TV: House (Dive Related)

[marshallkarp]

Spoilers

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First of all, I never watched House, but I have heard good things about it. I saw in the previews that it was a mid-air medical emergency show and I can't resist these (Zero Hour, Airplane, Emergency, etc).

So in flight, a non-English speaking Korean gets sick and it appears to be meningococcus, ciguatera poisoning, ataxia, radiation poisoning, meningitis, syphilis, or swallowed cocaine-filled condoms.

Spoiler

Just then, Dr. House finds a receipt in the gentleman's wallet from a dive shop! Well what do you know, his symptoms show that he is suffering from the BENDS! House orders the flight attendent to tell the captain to drop the plane from 30,000 feet to 5,000 feet.

My review

It was a well done show. Hugh Laurie plays a good cranky, no bed side manner, but get the job done doctor.

Spoiler

I thought the storyline was interesting and whoever wrote it, besides doing a fine job, could have been a diver or read about the effects of flying too soon after diving.

I give the episode ***.

 

[fairybasslet]

Glad you put up the spoiler. I taped it last night. Maybe I'll get to watch it tonight and then I can respond.

 

[letterboy]

HMMM Is it online anywhere? I missed it

I wish fox would do like ABC has done and put the shows on their website the day after. . .

 

[DIR-Atlanta]

his symptoms show that he is suffering from the BENDS! House orders the flight attendent to tell the captain to drop the plane from 30,000 feet to 5,000 feet.

Did not see the episode, but cabin pressure on a commercial jet-liner is normally kept at an equivalent altitude of between 5000-8000 feet, per FAA regulations. So dropping the plane to 5000 feet would have had little to no effect on the internal cabin pressure, assuming that the airplane systems were functioning properly. Of course the TV writers are never known to let facts get in the way of a good story.

 

[H2Andy]

yeah ... basically he'd go from 8,000 feet to 5,000 feet of pressure (under 8,000 feet, the outside ambient pressure is matched inside the plane).

but who knows... maybe 3,000 feet difference in pressure can make a difference?

 

[ClayJar]

I figured it out right when they got to the joint pain. I always enjoy it when I'm at least a few seconds ahead of the giveaway.

 

[hydro12]

I'm with ClayJar. This is the only episode of House where I guessed the diagnosis (correctly) before Dr. House. It brought tears to my eyes.
Thinking about it for a bit though, I agree with Andy and DIR-Atlanta. Once you're experiencing the kind of pain that guy was - it's table time (MC Hammer break down) in a chamber. Dropping the plane down from 8000 to 5000 ft of pressure wouldn't help so much.

 

[DBailey]

I am still trying to figure out if the violent vomitting was an implied symptom of DCS or was it a false symptom related to the drinking the guy was doing in the beginning.

 

[mike_s]

Did not see the episode, but cabin pressure on a commercial jet-liner is normally kept at an equivalent altitude of between 5000-8000 feet, per FAA regulations. So dropping the plane to 5000 feet would have had little to no effect on the internal cabin pressure, assuming that the airplane systems were functioning properly.

Not entirely true. You can still pressurize the plane internally at any altitude, including on the ground.

So if you brought the plane down to 5,000 feet, you can still pressurize it so that you got a barometric altitude pressure reading equivalent to 2,000 ro 3,000 feet for example. (or lower).

A perfect real life example of this was a flight attendant was killed in Miami after an emergency landing when they opened the cabin door and the pilot hadn't de-pressurized the plane yet. The pressure change was enough to 'suck' the flight attendent out the door. (the fall to the tarmac and how they landed is what killed the attendent).

Of course the TV writers are never known to let facts get in the way of a good story.

That is very true.

 

[chrispete]

So if you brought the plane down to 5,000 feet, you can still pressurize it so that you got a barometric altitude pressure reading equivalent to 2,000 ro 3,000 feet for example. (or lower).

Just got finished reading up on this the other day. Many pressurized aircraft can maintain sea level air pressure up to a certain point (i.e. 12,000 - 20,000' MSL.) I'm not sure what your traditional airliners can do but I'd suspect that it's in that neighborhood. Standard procedure is to keep the cabin at ambient pressure until reaching ~5,000-8,000' MSL and then use pressurization to hold that altitude and then do the opposite when landing.

The real danger is if the airliner has to decompress at altitude (it happens, albiet very rarely) and you ignored the flying after diving rules - that's when you end up looking and feeling like a pretzel.

Chris