Anthony writes:
Yes, but they did that on the ground, where the ratio of inside to outside pressure was much smaller than it would be at altitude, and the outside air density was much higher, so their tests are not necessarily representative of what would happen at high altitudes.
Nope. Air is air. Density is density. A 10 psi difference is the same at sea level as it is at fl800. Air doesn't get "thicker" or "thinner" based on altitude, only the pressure changes. Mythbusters pressurized to the correct PSI to represent cruise altitude, so their "bullet" test was accurate.
Watch the 'If it's not Boeing I'm not going' brigade fill this thread up. Yaaaaaawwwwwn.
Had the UK team even sealed the vessel, that 747 would have popped something - a widow, or a lap joint.
But, if you insist we talk about this, I'll take a 737 minus the crown over over first class any day.
Possible they did seal off that part of the fuselage since I didn't see any explosive gases escaping from the doors. However, agree that unpressurised it's not a representative test.
The test team explained that they DID NOT seal the fuse for this demonstration, and explained it away in terms of moving air pressure.
They're completely wrong, of course. Because the fuse was unsealed, there was no effect from the sheer increase in pressure caused by the explosion.
I think you're missing the point. This is obviously aimed at the average wannabe terrorist who might think again about blowing their nob off in the name of allah if it's not going to take down the aircraft, and hasn't got the relevant knowledge of relative atmospheric pressure, etc.
Not to be argumentative, but this little piece of journalism was aimed at the flying public. I suspect they used a big old hunk of thick-skinned 747 for the purpose of being able to film the shock waves running down its skin, counting on that it wouldn't pop a seam.
The wannabe terrorists don't really think about their knobs much, if they did they would certainly be asking more (and more pointed) questions about the 72 virgins awaiting them in the afterworld.
Questions like "what do they look like? why are they still virgins? how come there are 72 of them just for me, are they like, common, or what?"
And now Mr Terrorist knows to bring more bang with him for the next attempt
The guys' bosses gave him just enough to burn half his johnson off. If they had been serious, they would have given him enough to get the job done, but one suspects that's not what they wanted to do.
Why anyone thinks this was an inept attempt at blowing up a flight is beyond me. They know exactly how to do it. They don't bother to go all the way, because setting some poor sap up on a mission which will just burn half his johnson off gets the same job done.
Terror. Sheer, media-fueled terror. Knee-jerk reactions. Comments in forums... Oh - did I say that?
The test was also conducted in a stripped back airframe, where all internal panels/Insulation/Sound prrofing etc had been stripped away, and the skin still contained the blast.
No, not at all. The ends of the "tube" were open, so the pressure wave could roll on out. Had they detonated the same amount of stuff in a sealed 747, the internal pressure - by my rough calcs - would have gone up to something like 72 psi.
That would have produced something more than the cute little skin wiggles we saw in the long view when the "test" explosive was detonated.
This is all
PR and the bad guys will always win at this with their next trick even if it's all smoke.
Best comment so far, besides this one.
Let's just be glad we had some pax and some CC who were quick to respond.
The FD folks did what they were supposed to do, which is keep flying the plane.
The US FAM were apparently doing what they're paid to do, which is ride and monitor "some" flight or another, but it didn't happen to be this one.
And the terrorists did what they do best - they scared the sh*t out of us again, by simply de-nutting one of their own and giving him up for bait. The net result is that your grandmother might now become a pornstar of the "grainy, nightshot" type the next time she puts her tired old pu...
Puts her tired old self on a flight to come see you.
Everything else is window dressing.
RR