On Jan 11, 10:35*am, I am Tosk
wrote:
In article ,
says...



On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:05:08 -0500, John H
wrote:

....can't blow a hole in an airplane.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...2773940934022#

or:http://tinyurl.com/ybaez5v

There is a big difference between "a hole in a plane" and the plane
coming down, particularly when it is below 8000 feet where there is no
cabin pressurization.

Somehow you are assuming the hole will be say, at an upward angle and
perfectly round? The guy was sitting over a gas tank and next to the
wing assembly.. What if the explosion goes in that direction.

I have been tied up lately and have missed a lot of threads but have you
pointed to examples of where planes with 10 foot holes landed
successfully other than WW2 military and that one in Hawaii?

Scotty

First, you don't know how big, or small of a hole the bomb would have
made but while I wouldn't call a large hole in the fuselage normal, it
may be "by design." The metal skin of the airplane does break down
overtime. Eventually the pressure can cause part of the fuselage to
burst. However, instead of ripping away huge parts of the fuselage,
the skin has built in "tear strips" which are designed to allow a
compromised part of the skin to burst away without pulling other
sections along with it. Modern aircraft can take quite a large hole
and still be flyable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/wo....14793040.html

Good article on cabin pressurization:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_pressurization