Timeline for Can a handgun shot take down a commercial airliner?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 16, 2015 at 5:13 | comment | added | acpilot | The cabin outflow valve would close a little in response to the cabin altitude change and they probably not find the hole for quite some time. A few flights at least. | |
| Aug 24, 2015 at 16:30 | comment | added | reirab | It probably wouldn't cause significant decompression at all. The hole would be so small that you could just stick one of the in-flight magazines or something up against it and stop the leak completely (and this is assuming the plane is pressurized, which it probably wouldn't be.) Even if the plane were pressurized and no one bothered to plug the hole, the hole would be so small than the outflow would most likely be less than is already happening intentionally through the aircraft's outflow valve. And explosion will absolutely not happen. Jet fuel isn't explosive at normal pressure/temperature. | |
| Apr 8, 2015 at 11:32 | comment | added | user | Even if you are at altitude and suffer depressurization, 15 minutes is plenty enough to get down to a reasonably safe altitude even from jetliner cruise height. Even a normal landing descent is on the order of 2000-2500 feet per minute and that gets you from jetliner cruising altitude (30,000 feet) to ground level well within those 15 minutes. Also, even assuming the bullet penetrates the plane (see other answers), a handgun would punch a relatively tiny hole; it's not like that is going to cause instantaneous decompression. | |
| Apr 8, 2015 at 9:12 | comment | added | Federico | you are near ground already, no depressurization will happen. also, explosions happen in films, hardly in real life. | |
| Apr 8, 2015 at 6:13 | history | answered | mimosa | CC BY-SA 3.0 |