Incredibly sad. Thoughts to the family and friends.
As noted in the vid, the young man that was stuck deployed his back and survived. The father, that was in the runout zone, deployed and survived (questionable as to if the airbag deployment played a part in that), and the fatality was the person that rode above the stuck sled (and had a avy pack but did not deploy and was buried 6 feet deep and still tethered to his sled so no separation there). Very sad, indeed.
I think it could also help in the event of a partial burial too though. Like when its done and buried up to your chest and once it deflates it gives you some room to maneuver.
For clarification, no canister-inflated avy bags deflate after a period of time. They stay inflated until you manually release air pressure with a valve. Only the Jetforce (battery and fan type avy bags) deflate after a period of time. To your point, I suppose if you or someone intentionally punctured the bag to relieve some of the pressure around you, it could potentially offer some relief.
The the info sledhead shared is accurate; the science behind airbags apply only when you and the snow are in motion where the volume difference between your airbag and the snow can sometimes help work you closer to the surface before the snow comes to a standstill. In general, a bag won't help you much if you get blasted in the runout zone because the amount of time you and the snow will continue to move along together is much shorter than if you were further uphill and were in motion for a longer period of time.
