jeff davis wrote:
> --- Eugene Leitl <Eugene.Leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de>
> wrote:
> > On Sun, 23 Sep 2001, Michael M. Butler wrote:
> >
> > > Go ahead, call me any name you like. This one
> > really does feel good.
> > >
> > >
> > https://www.keepandbeararms.com/images/sept11_b.jpg
> >
> > Except that the terrorrists would then have guns,
> > too, and unless everybody was loaded frangible the plane would be
> > downed in no time, being shot full of holes.
> >
>
> I don't see how fifty or a hundred or even two hundred
> bullet holes through the fuselage of a large airliner
> would do anything more than depressurize the plane.
>
> I think this is something like an urban legend.
The bullet would create a hole that would be spread open like a peeled
spam can for at least a foot or two by the pressure differential. Anyone
within 6-10 feet who was not belted down would get sucked out (depending
on altitude, of course). It would not cause the entire plane to explode
or go down, and the danger would cease once pressure equalized. Many
airliners that have suffered from decompression have safely landed.
So, while some innocent people might die as a result, most passengers
would likely survive.
I think that this is a far better scenario than to just write off a
planeload of unarmed people who got hijacked....
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:40:57 MDT
