Plane Crash

Accident (this is for insurance purposes), I suspect.

The medical cause.

Sudden deceleration.

McGentrix-

Thank you.

Yes, surely the passengers are subjected to sudden deceleration. But how does that cause death?

The first law of motion states that a body in motion tends to remain in motion. So as a plane hits say a mountain and its speed instantly drops to zero. Therefore the speed of the passengers drops to zero. Does the brain then smash against the scull causing death?

Yep. The brain. Most other internal organs suffer extreme and often fatal damage when they are displaced inside the body.

In a high speed collision with something solid, e.g. the ground, a mountain or building, the plane disintegrates and so do the passengers. After the Germanwings accident, the ground teams said they did not find any human part "bigger than a briefcase". This is typical.

The plane breaks into lots of small pieces of metal and plastic. The passengers and crew are cut to pieces; squashed; minced.

I think it's extreme blunt force trauma.

Can also be fire or smoke inhalation.

If the body is intact, you can duplicate the result that occurs inside the body by getting a tub of jelly and upending it on the floor . The same happens to internal organs, they smash against bones and muscle which will deform temporarily . If the deformation is not temporary, then the body flies apart . About 5 g's over a second will knock you unconscious, about 15 g's will kill your brain, and around 50 and up g's will start to tear apart the body . For a fraction of a second the body can withstand considerable force, possibly 40-50 g's but about a second is the limit to go from transitional force to the actual force . Anymore than a second and less force may do the same as higher forces .
The more clogged your arteries and veins are, the more g force you can handle as the basic problem is fluid movement which drags tissue with it .

Ionus-

Thank you.

First, I get a tub of jelly and place it on its side so that it is standing vertically.

What do I do next to duplicate it?

It was a somewhat tongue in cheek statement but if you want to, get a container of jelly and drop it upside down so the jelly hits the floor with the container on top . The more full the container is with jelly the better the demonstration . The shock waves will shatter the jelly .

Ionus-

Thank you.

When a jet lands on an aircraft carrier, I believe an arresting wire is used to force it to decelerate very quickly.

Why don't the internal organs deform?

They are rather close to the limit . If a car crash took that long to stop, most of the passengers would survive too .