[NEWwoman]

>>pops a hole in the skin

I thought planes were better made than that and could withstand a hit. Saw a special on it. Though I could be wrong--as you pointed out the Aloha example.

[amstaff1]

The whole decompression effect is way overblown according to most sources. The Aloha airlines incident happened after a large piece of the fuselage was lost behind and above the cockpit. A bullet hole or three won't endanger most planes. Besides a dead terrorist's face makes a dandy plug if it comes down to it, or even a wallet for that matter. I'll take my chances in a decompressed plane with a competent crew to fly it over the wrong crew and a fully compressed interior.