It , Flight 243, was a 737-200.
Posted on 11/29/2004 1:45:56 PM PST by neverdem
Different, but not so very much. On a large aircraft that 15" outlet valve, which can close, would be about equivalent to 1111 .45 caliber bullet holes. More if the bullets are smaller caliber.
I submit that allowing persons carrying firearms in the passenger cabin will make it easier for the terrorists to take control of the aircraft.
Sure just like Florida, Texas and other states become "Gunshine States" with dozens of "road rage" deaths as shootouts occurred after fender benders and CHL holders being cut off in traffic. Didn't happen. Not that that fact prevents the gun grabbers from bringing it up every time another state is trying to pass a CHL law.
It , Flight 243, was a 737-200.
I'm pretty sure that Air Marshalls have safety slugs. They disintegrate on impact.
Besides, if you've ever been through heavy turbulence, you know those air frames are built tough. IMHO, simple air flowing out of the plane from a bullet hole isn't going to do a thing.
Almost anything is better than letting the terrorists take the aircraft.
Still, if an airline could assure me that the pilots were armed, and they, not the federal government, judged that they did not want passengers armed, I could live with that. As it is, passengers, cabin crews and most flight crews are not armed, and the chances of a Sky Marshall being on the flight when the terrorists take over with their plexiglass knives are slim to none. At that point you have to hope the pilots can get the aircraft on the ground, and the commandos get to the aircaft before the terrorists get to you. Or if one is more concerned about those on the ground, the terrorists run out of hostages to kill before the pilots give in to the carnage going on behind them.
ping
If a bullet were to penetrate a pressurized airplane, the passengers would not be sucked out the windows from "explosive decompression." That is a persistent urban myth originating with the 1964 movie, Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery as James Bond.
Airplanes already have holes. Air is constantly pumped into... and out of... the plane. (Otherwise, the passengers would suffocate.) It is not a closed system. The size of the hole (the "outflow valve") depends on the size of the plane, but it is a big hole. Outflow valves are over a square foot on the 737, up to two square feet on the 757, and so on. You can lose three windows and still keep the cabin pressurized. A 9mm/.357 caliber bullet makes a hole with an area of 1/10th of a square inch. (Area = pi R squared.) The effect of a bullet hole on cabin pressure is not enough to be measurable.
Explosive decompression only occurs with huge holes. In 1986, a bomb blew a 20-square-foot hole in a TWA 727 over Athens, and 4 passengers were killed. In 1988, an 18-foot section of the roof came off an Aloha Airlines 737 mid-flight, and one flight attendant was killed. (Both planes landed safely.)
If the Goldfinger Syndrome were true, the Airline Pilots Association would not have voted to arm pilots, and the FAA would not be talking about armed sky marshals.
It's a myth, OK? It was just a movie.
I know, I just included the names of people that were involved in the conversation.
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