🚀 go-pugleaf

Jeffrey Siegal (jbs@quiotix.com) wrote:
: Merlin Dorfman wrote:

: > If you'll allow me to put
: > this discussion on hold for a couple of months, I should be able
: > to get an answer that we can all subscribe to.

: You don't need my permission.  But I certainly don't mind; one of the
: great things about newsgroups is that you can come and go as you please,
: something I do myself on a regular basis.

: I would ask that you carefully consider how you frame the question, and
: how you report the response, to avoid bias.  I'm less interested in the
: question to "Is it possible that a bullet hole can bring down an
: pressurized aircraft" than to "What is the likely outcome, or range of
: likely outcomes, resulting from a bullet hole in a pressurized
: aircraft."

     It's likely to be in an informal discussion, rather than 
something like a written query, but I was planning to frame it
in terms of risk; something like: in a discussion that followed 
up the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, the advisability of armed
resistance to hijackings came up.  Obviously firing guns in 
crowded areas, with control cables, hydraulic lines, electronic 
equipment and other vulnerable items nearby, is something that 
would not be done under normal circumstances.  But there was a 
specific issue about rapid depressurization.  Clearly one hole, 
or several or even many holes, of the diameter of a bullet would 
not cause such depressurization; but what is the risk that a 
bullet, penetrating the skin of a pressurized airliner at high 
altitude, could cause a much larger hole, thus leading to 
depressurization rapidly enough to be a danger in itself?