Gary is exactly correct. A "few" bullet holes will not have a catastrophic
effect on an airliner. It was explained to me that you would have to use
several 30 round magazines of ammo in an automatic weapon and keep all the
holes in a relatively small area to have that effect. Without getting into
too much detail, the ammo carried by Sky Marshalls is not your everyday law
enforcement round. It will do terrible damage to a human, but _may not_ even
penetrate an airliner. I've seen some of these guys train, it is a very long
and intensive course (months). And since their training doesn't waste a lot
of time on things like writing parking tickets, the entire course is spent on
airline-specific situations. These guys get very very good in marksmanship,
and regularly confine their hits to all head-shots.
George S.
> There is a persistant feeling among the non-technical that a single hole in
> the hull of a pressurized airliner is catastrophic. Not so; they are
> designed to tolerate a great deal of damage and steps were taken in the
> design to prevent unchecked crack growth - so they do not rupture like a
> balloon pricked by a pin. And the pressurization system can keep upwith a
> significant leak long enough for a rapid but not emergency descent. Control
> runs are redundant as well. A few bullet holes worry me a lot less than an
> unchecked terrorist bent on collecting his promised ration of virgins.
>
> I miss carrying my Leatherman, too. I used it to repair a non-reclining
> business class seat over the Atlantic once. And I didn't charge Delta.
>
> Gary Edwards
>
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