Code —
At altitude, the interior of the plane is indeed only pressurized to about 8 - 10K feet. No need to maintain a full atmosphere of pressure up there.
Planes leak = tough to maintain ‘full’ pressure.
The filght cycles flex the airframe due to pressurization and there’s no reason to fully pressurize the fuselage and subject it to greater ‘inflation’ pressures.
Your ears pop as the plane climbs and dives due to the crew/systems adjusting pressure. But don’t expect the pressure to stay at a full sea level atmosphere of pressure after climb out.
*IF* the plane were to be pressurized to less than 8 - 10 K, then a lot of folks would feel the effects of mild hypoxia.
In the end the comment in the article “we believe that the explosion would have occurred because of the cabin being pressurized, and the inability to adjust the pressure would have caused (a) boom sound,” is absurd. That’s the point.
hit and run here; posting from mobile. forgive the brevity.
p.s. IF you fly a lot you’ll notice that right after the aircraft has cleared the final marker, and even as late as over the threshold, the plane will abruptly adjust cabin pressure to the exterior as the vents open up. This is normal.
So yeah, on descent, if the crew did not manage cabin pressure, there is a chance the cabin pressure would be lower than air pressure outside.
But they do ...