Quite remarkable when you consider that the cabin outflow valve is set to let the pressure lag during ascent and then stabilize at 8000 ft. Even if the aircraft were at 20,000 ft the pressure differential between inside and outside would be only around 4 PSI, and presumably the airplane was a whole lot lower than 20K.
I recall one DC-9 flight from Orlando up to Reagan and I was seated beside a window that gave a view of nothing but the No 1 engine, no more than 1 ft away. I thought to myself that the least they could do was give me some engine gauges to look at, in case I needed to duck.
There was that stewardess that blew out when the roof of the cabin came off that HI 737, but if a major structural failure of that magnitude happens you don't need a pressure differential to eject you. That could have been much worse had not Pam, Ralph Hinkley's girlfriend, not been one of the flight crew and so he no doubt flew up to rescue them.
