Re: ... Explosive Decompression....

[Big John]

LawsomE

Have see the results of aircraft hitting birds, 1 to 10 lbs, and
taking out the cockpit canopy. Unless the carcass hit the pilot and
caused major damage to him, all the aircraft I know of (over 55 years)
have been flown back and landed ok.

There are records of these events if you want to take the time to
research.

Since the majority of these aircraft have been landed safely why do
you think a 2-4 oz bullet through the windscreen would cause the
aircraft to crash if it broke the windscreen?

Big John
Pilot ROCAF


On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:42:31 GMT, "LawsonE" > wrote:

>
>"Jack" > wrote in message
...
>> On 2004/01/17 16:12, in article
>> et, "LawsonE"
>> > wrote:
>>
>> > Fine, but how many shots into the windscreen would it take to destroy a
>> > plane going 500 mph at 30,000 ft?
>> >
>> > My guess is that 3 shots in the same area would be more than sufficient
>to
>> > make the plane unflyable. 2 might be enough or even 1.
>>
>> My guess is, you have no clue about windscreens, 30,000 feet, 500 mph, or
>> "shots" (with the possible exception of alcoholic drinks).
>>
>> Any number of knowledgeable people have repeatedly told you and all the
>> other hand-wringers the straight truth about guns in airliners and yet you
>> absolutely refuse to accept their statements, despite having no expertise
>of
>> your own.
>>
>> Use as many shots as you want, ace. In fact you can jettison the bleeding
>> windscreen if you like and it will not "destroy the airplane", though it
>> will temporarily disturb the repose of the Captain.
>
>Guffaw. So you're saying that a single bullet fired in a non-moving plane is
>the same as getting rid of the windscreen in the cockpit while it is
>travelling 500mph?
>
>>
>> I probably shouldn't be flippant about it, in case there are some
>> open-minded folks here who are sincerely concerned about the issue, but it
>> is obvious that you are not one of them.
>
>I think that "open-minded" is an interesting way of describing things, given
>your statement above...
>

[James M. Knox]

Big John > wrote in
:

> Have see the results of aircraft hitting birds, 1 to 10 lbs, and
> taking out the cockpit canopy. Unless the carcass hit the pilot and
> caused major damage to him, all the aircraft I know of (over 55 years)
> have been flown back and landed ok.
>>>
>>> > Fine, but how many shots into the windscreen would it take to
>>> > destroy a plane going 500 mph at 30,000 ft?

Watched the Mythbusters episode last night on Discovery Channel. They had
a Piper Cherokee with nothing front of the firewall. Fired frozen and
thawed chickens at it - smashed right through the thin plexi of course,
even with the "gun" set at low power. [In fact, basically any power
setting that got the chicken to the aircraft smashed the windscreen.]

What amazed me was later when they hit the firewall with a pumpkin -
smashed the whole front end of the Cherokee.

-----------------------------------------------
James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1109-A Shady Lane fax 512-366-4331
Austin, Tx 78721
-----------------------------------------------

[Big John]

James

Your right. Hitting a bird can cause major structural damage to an
aircraft.

What a few were talking about was a bullet causing explosive
decompression and loss of the aircraft. All I was trying to point out
was that taking out the windscreen with a bird did not cause loss of
aircraft so why would a 'little old bullet' cause loss?

Sometimes you can't argue with the flat earth people.

On mythbusters, they showed that if you land in a pumpkin patch be
careful as you can break things <G>

One time I saw results of marshmallows that were fired at things and
the damage they caused.


Big John
Pilot ROCAF



On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 08:33:38 -0600, "James M. Knox"
> wrote:

>Big John > wrote in
:
>
>> Have see the results of aircraft hitting birds, 1 to 10 lbs, and
>> taking out the cockpit canopy. Unless the carcass hit the pilot and
>> caused major damage to him, all the aircraft I know of (over 55 years)
>> have been flown back and landed ok.[i]
>>>>
>>>> > Fine, but how many shots into the windscreen would it take to
>>>> > destroy a plane going 500 mph at 30,000 ft?
>
>Watched the Mythbusters episode last night on Discovery Channel. They had
>a Piper Cherokee with nothing front of the firewall. Fired frozen and
>thawed chickens at it - smashed right through the thin plexi of course,
>even with the "gun" set at low power.
>
>What amazed me was later when they hit the firewall with a pumpkin -
>smashed the whole front end of the Cherokee.
>
>-----------------------------------------------
>James M. Knox
>TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
>1109-A Shady Lane fax 512-366-4331
>Austin, Tx 78721
>-----------------------------------------------