 Re: Mozzarella in transit
When we were certifying the MD-11 the planes were not in their final confguration. No ceiling palnels no side panels no insulation. You stay away from the door with all the wiring around it because those are explosiuves, just in case ou need to bail out quicklyy. Parachutes were optional but no-one checked them ouot becasue if you did manage to get out of the plane you would probably be cut in 2 by the horizontal tail. On the DC-10 they had a man hole tube that you could bail out from. The plane took off from Yuma in June and it was blazing hot. By the time we got to cruising altitude, 35,000 feet and above, the plane starts to cool down. The outside air at that elevation is a mere -65 F/-54.3C. This is why stowaways in wheel wells freeze, that and the fact that the O2 content at elevation is limited - thus you cabin is pressurised anywhere between 8 to 10,000 feet. On a few flights we had a bit of humidity and actually has "snow" coming of of the air vents. Artic parkas in the middle of June in Yuma are an odd site.
Although you are flying in a tin can you can have 2 comfort zones. The upper deck can be maintained at a humane level while the below deck can have no air conditioning. If what you saw was going on a cargo flight then the temp is easily controlled. To save $$ it is cheaper to not have to run the a/c sytem for the whole aircraft. You can put up flex walls to isolate the limited crew area from the rest of the aircraft. Think Tom Hanks in Castaway  |