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As someone whose normal Skymaster flying never takes them much above 1000 feet, this discussion is somewhat academic to me. But thought I'd throw out something for you high-flyers to keep in the back of your mind: getting down from up there in the event of an emergency.
Short sea story from my airline days: Had a rapid decompression in a DC9 at FL350 and as we configured the airplane for a rapid descent, it began a violent buffeting. Natural assumption was some kind of structural failure/damage so we elected to descend at 230-240 KIAS instead of M.8/350KIAS. It was about the longest 15 minutes of my career, thinking the airplane might be coming unglued.
Certainly not a reason not to fly high if the mission calls for it, but remember that it will take some time to get down from up there.
Joe
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