Airport Insecurity? And Why Manhood Cures Terrorism

FrontPageMagazine ^ | September 14, 2001 | Duncan Maxwell Anderson

[spunkets]

"Frankly, all law abiding gun owners should boycott any domestic airline that prohibits light side arms on aircrafts."

They banned plastic knives from all areas of the airport. I wouldn't set foot in a sheep pen like that.

[Rytwyng]

I see no reason that we ordinary citizens who so cherish our rights to keep and bear arms can not be trained to serve as air marshals ourselves....I would gladly volunteer my own time once a month to serve in this capacity

Excellent idea. Where do I sign up? ?

I recall reading that, in the beginning of WW2, armed civilians rode the railroads as a deterrent to saboteurs. If memory serves, this was done in Canada as well. And the British had a much more extensive home guard than anyone in North America (armed with donated American guns, but let it go for now.)

Looks like we need to do it again.

[DuncanWaring]

The pressure differential between inside and outside is rarely more than five psi or so

And putting your hand over a bullet hole probably wouldn't be much different than putting it over the hose of a good vacuum cleaner.

[William Tell]

DuncanWaring said: "And putting your hand over a bullet hole probably wouldn't be much different than putting it over the hose of a good vacuum cleaner."

This is not my area of expertise, but, of course, I have an opinion.

When you blow up a toy balloon, the pressure inside is only barely more than the pressure outside. The difference in pressure forces the elastic material to stretch until the forces are balanced.

The skin of an airplane is similar to a balloon, but is on a frame so that there is a pre-determined shape when the pressure is equalized by opening the doors. Also, the material requires great force to stretch it, so it doesn't expand very much at altitude.

At cruising altitude, the small pressure difference creates tension in the skin of the plane, but the shape is constrained by the airframe.

Now imagine what happens when you stick a pin in a toy balloon. The tension which existed in the stretched material is disturbed and the material begins to tear. The balloon "pops" because the tearing is very quick and the pressure is allowed to equalize very quickly.

If a bullet passes through the skin of an airplane, the tension in the skin of the airplane is disturbed and it is possible (perhaps likely) that the skin will begin to tear. The change in forces is so rapid, that substantial damage can be done to the skin before the pressures inside and outside the airplane are equalized.

The solution to the problem of catastrophic damage caused by a bullet hole in the skin of an airplane is to design the framework to which the skin is attached, or possibly the shape of the skin itself, so that the tearing which takes place after a hole is made is limited during the decompression. Everyone would have to reach for an oxygen mask at cruising altitude, and perhaps one or two people might find themselves outside the plane. (Note: don't let your hamster play near an operating vacuum cleaner!)

The details and cost of making the skin of an airplane "bullet-proof" in this fashion is complicated enough that I am still working on an opinion.

The important point is that there are things which might be done to allow passengers to protect themselves. Making them defenseless is proven to cost thousands of lives.

[tbeatty]

Have you been to a CCW class? I wouldn't let half those people look at my gun, let alone want them on airplanes with them.

I do agree however with letting people go through the Sky Marshall training and investigations (if you can be a sky marshall, pass through their training, etc). Let volunteer citizens be "deputized" for every flight.

[Shooter 2.5]

I think the most important lesson that we have learned from this experience is never cooperate. Don't be lead into the backroom by a robber. Don't drive off with a robber in your car when he says that he only wants a ride to a desolate area.

If we don't trust politicians or used car salesmen, why would we trust a criminal?

[DuncanWaring]

Contemplate the B-29s (pressurized) that picked up bullet holes (sometimes several) over the Empire in WWII. None of them blew up due to the bullet holes. They were patched and went back into service.

Contemplate also the UA 747 that had a major chunk of its side ripped off leaving Hawaii back around 1989 due to a bad latch on a cargo door (I'm not referring to the 737 that developed a sun-roof).

Several passengers were sucked out because their seats were ripped from the floor, but overall the aircraft returned to Hawaii and landed safely.

[FITZ]

The lesson I learned which I already knew for the most part was to avoid high population areas and don't go anywhere that you can't have a gun. Except a hospital or school. I avoid flying because I can't stand that you have no control at all of your fate. I know there's more automobile accidents and all but you can defensively drive and all that.