"John R Weiss" wrote in message
news:LVZIb.187838$8y1.595561@attbi_s52...
"Kevin Brooks" wrote...

A cargo hatch blew out of a DC-10 in 1974, and it took a big chunk of
the
cabin floor above, with passengers, out of the aircraft--the rest of the
aircraft then augered in. Face it, rapid decompression *can* (does not
mean
*will be*) be a very bad thing, even when it may just involve a window.

The belly cargo door in a DC-10 is on the order of 6x8 feet, or 7,000
square
inches. A window is on the order of 100 sq in or less, and a bullet hole
0.2 sq
in or less.

You cannot compare the rapid decompression from the instantaneous loss of
the
cargo door to the outflow from a bullet hole or loss of a window.

Nobody has said you could. What I have said, repeatedly, is that evidence
does indeed exist that rapid decompression from relatively small "holes"
(used vicariously--I don't know that the Piedmont 737 decompression incident
even involved a "hole") can be fatal, with two cases cited. The DC-10
incident was mentioned as just another example of the possible consequences
of *rapid* decompression, though in that case the door in question was
indeed quite a bit larger than a window (but then again, it was not directly
accessing the passenger compartment, either).


Further, the loss of that cargo door caused secondary structural damage --
buckling of the main deck -- which compromised the structural integrity
and
controllability of the entire aircraft. Neither of those would occur with
a
single bullet hole in the fuselage -- no matter WHERE or WHAT it hit -- or
loss
of a cabin window.

But you cannot classify the loss of a window (or two) as a nominal event, as
others apparently have. That Brazilian passenger who left that TAM Fokker at
altitude would have disagreed with you if you did, as would also the poor
fellow who died in the Piedmont incident, and as would those folks who
suffered ruptured eardroms and the like during the Aer Lingus 737
decompression. A bulet hole in the fuselage is a minor inconvenience and not
arapid decompression cause--a bullet hole in a window that leads to rapid
decompression is quite a bit more serious, and potentially fatal.

Brooks