Bullet Hole in 737

Re: Bullet hole found in a Cactus 737

Maybe the geese have armed themselves and are fighting back after all the bad press they got for the Cactus 1549 crash that they allegedly caused. ;)
 
Re: Bullet hole found in a Cactus 737

ScottM said:
Maybe the geese have armed themselves and are fighting back after all the bad press they got for the Cactus 1549 crash that they allegedly caused. ;)
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Damned iron birds... :rofl:

I wonder if they sink faster with bullet holes in them?
 
How did a 40 cal. bullet hole end up in a USAirways 737 and come from above. It had to happen on the ground in Charlotte on the ground I'd think. If it happened in flight or at Philly the plane would have depressureized right? I guess it could have happened below 8K. Beyond all that how do they figure it wasn't something intentional.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42327327/ns/travel-news/?GT1=43001
 
Pressurized airplanes generate much more air than necessary to maintain diff, and outflow valves aren't closed under normal conditions. The pressure vessel has numerous leaks in addition to the outflow valve, so no loss of cabin pressure would occur.
AdamZ said:
How did a 40 cal. bullet hole end up in a USAirways 737 and come from above. It had to happen on the ground in Charlotte on the ground I'd think. If it happened in flight or at Philly the plane would have depressureized right? I guess it could have happened below 8K. Beyond all that how do they figure it wasn't something intentional.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42327327/ns/travel-news/?GT1=43001
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mmm Thanks guys never knew that about the pressurization. Still think logic would suggest this happened on the ground.
 
And that's my story and I'm sticking to it?

AdamZ said:
mmm Thanks guys never knew that about the pressurization. Still think logic would suggest this happened on the ground.
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Sometimes we forget to close the ice drawer drains. We never notice anything until we open the ice drawer and hear this sucking sound.

I also know of an airplane where they found a bullet hole on the top of the fuselage during an inspection. No one could figure out how it got there or how long it had been there.
 
AdamZ said:
How did a 40 cal. bullet hole end up in a USAirways 737 and come from above. It had to happen on the ground in Charlotte on the ground I'd think. If it happened in flight or at Philly the plane would have depressureized right? I guess it could have happened below 8K. Beyond all that how do they figure it wasn't something intentional.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42327327/ns/travel-news/?GT1=43001
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Geese overhead during landing? :dunno:
 
Philly's a tough airport.
 
ScottM said:
Geese overhead during landing? :dunno:
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What we are actually seeing here is the until now completely unspoken side of the fierce nature of airline competition. With the increase in fuel prices recently along with the collapsing economy and longer flight crew duty hours, the polite airline rules on submarining each other are slowly being abandoned to get those all important profitable routes from the competition.

Before, there have always been bullet holes in the bottom of the planes and the occasional glancing side hits however they've always come from below. The reason for this is that it's easy to blame psycho NIMBY anti airplane noise fanatics with guns on the ground. Polite etiquette, honor and all that stuff. The reality of what is going on can be easily deduced by two things: that the flight deck door is always closed and. the outflow valves can be controlled in flight. The reason? So the pilots can close those valves and open the little flight deck side window in flight while maintaining cabin pressure as they shoot at each other during cross unders of the competition. Now with the harder times and more difficult conditions, the polite rules of engagement are being tossed aside in favor of winning at all costs and it's becoming a free for all air to air combat shooting operation. Get enough bullet holes in the competition and they'll be afraid enough that they give up those routes...This is one of the reasons all those startup airline operations go under so quick. It's easy to beat out the big leaguers with cut rate flights, they just didn't realize it was a shooting business.

Ever wonder why the old captains make $100K+ per year while the first officer gets paid peanuts? Wanna take a guess at who can get the competition's crew to shut down an engine from 4000 feet below during a cross under? Yep, it's the captain. It takes a lot of skill to hit a critical engine component from a mile away at 500mph even with hot loaded 357 rounds using open sights.

For the next installment, we will cover the competitive acquisition techniques of those particularly coveted airports in a light hearted article called; Holding Patterns, the Shooting Gallery.
 
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Did they find a bullet?. Not likely but it could be the first meteorite impact on a plane. News are reporting a .40cal hole fired from a rifle into the air. The only thing is .40 cal rifles are not common at all.
peekskill_meteorite2.jpg
 
Bullet hole in the top of the fuselage is almost certainly from some idiot firing a gun in the air (think 4th of July or New Year's) and the bullet coming down onto the parked aircraft.

As a cop on 4th of July about 15 years ago, a waitress at an open air bar took a bullet coming down out of the sky, struck her near the collarbone, and down into her chest and dropped a lung.
Another guy about 10 years ago took a 45 to the top of the head as he was walking down the street. Knocked him cold, but didn't penetrate the skull.
 
PilotAlan said:
Bullet hole in the top of the fuselage is almost certainly from some idiot firing a gun in the air (think 4th of July or New Year's) and the bullet coming down onto the parked aircraft.

As a cop on 4th of July about 15 years ago, a waitress at an open air bar took a bullet coming down out of the sky, struck her near the collarbone, and down into her chest and dropped a lung.
Another guy about 10 years ago took a 45 to the top of the head as he was walking down the street. Knocked him cold, but didn't penetrate the skull.
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Mythbusters confirmed that a bullet shot into the air at an angle will often have enough energy to kill or wound. However, if it's shot straight up, it will merely fall at terminal velocity...not enough to do much damage.

However, don't shoot your guns up in the air. Use firecrackers for crying out loud.
 
How long do you guys think the hole could have been there. Years? Or do they check fuselages periodically.
 
Jack Spectre said:
Mythbusters confirmed that a bullet shot into the air at an angle will often have enough energy to kill or wound. However, if it's shot straight up, it will merely fall at terminal velocity...not enough to do much damage.
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While mostly true, it's essentially impossible to fire a bullet straight up in the air. It will essentially always have a arc, and maintain its longitudinal rotation and greater energy.

In the case of the waitress, it was coming essentially straight down, and hit the gap between the bony structures of the shoulder. It (a .308) travelled through a couple inches of non-muscular soft tissue and into the lung.
The guy got hit by a .45, which has a larger cross section and lower terminal velocity.
 
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