When they say a plane breaks up mid-air, what does that mean?
 

Does it actually mean the plane completely disintegrates? Also are the people in the plane still alive/conscious?

(sorry for the morbid thread, I have always wondered this and what it must be like to go though that)

No as soon as is depressurises they die :(
I think yes it disintegrates ... god ben downer dave or what? :(

See I thought this but somebody today said they don't.

Have they tried it out? :suspect:

I saw whilst reading comments about MH17 that people can regain consciousness after they've fallen to a certain height and can breathe again...

:shrug:

wouldn't that only be for a steep drop in altitude with no break in the fusilage?
I thought everything got sucked out of a hole in a plane?

I think once it is dropped enough the pressure stabilises and nothing else gets sucked out? Are people still alive after being sucked out?

no, it doesn't mean it disintegrates, it just means that it was in more than one piece when it hit the ground. sometimes that means it is in 2 pieces, sometimes it means it is in 20 pieces, sometimes 2 thousand pieces. but it just means that it is not in 1 piece when it hits the ground. a true plane crash is the plane crashing into the ground as a complete aircraft.