Myth of a Bullet Hole Causing Explosive Decompression in Airliners

The myth of a bullet hole through the skin of a commercial airliner in flight causing explosive decompression is just that--a myth.

Given the focus on the TSA in the news, I've been hearing this myth repeated more than a bit.

Some probably learned this myth from the movie "Goldfinger". The James Bond franchise of fictional books and movies, while highly entertaining, often bear little resemblance to reality.

Read "The Science of James Bond"
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B001U3YQXS

Read the wiki page on uncontrolled decompression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontrolled_decompression

Here are but a few news articles on the subject.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3039583.stm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23780390/ns/travel-news
http://abcnews.go.com/US/BusinessTravel/story?id=4513875&page=1
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15704844/detail.html

Mythbusters busted this myth.
http://gadgetopia.com/post/2606
http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2004/01/mythbusters_explosive_decompre.html
http://mythbustersresults.com/episode10
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/episode/episode-tab-07.html

Mythbusters later revisited and rebusted this myth.
http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2005/10/episode_38_mythbusters_reviste.html
http://mythbustersresults.com/episode38
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/episode/episode-tab-06.html

Here is a report on the Flight Deck Officer Program (arming pilots)
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/crsreports/crsdocuments/RL31674.pdf

Search the NTSB
http://www.airdisaster.com/ntsb/
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/query.asp

Here are the results from searching for the word decompression
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20001208X05709&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20001208X07769&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20001211X10827&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X21060&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X21197&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X22314&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20010323X00636&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20010813X01665&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20040914X01415&key=1

How Things Work: Cabin Pressure
http://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/cit-larson.html

What happens if an airliner suddenly loses cabin pressure?
http://www.airspacemag.com/need-to-know/Need-to-Know-Cabin-Pressure.html

"Explosive decompression only occurred when a hole the size of a window was made with explosives. Even then, the rush of air could not suck Buster completely out of the hole. "

I'm not saying that they didn't exaggerate it a lot, but I don't recall in the movie it just being a small bullet hole in the fuselage. I imagine in today's planes a bullet wouldn't shatter and knock out an entire window. I'm not sure what the current technology was in a plane in 1964 (when the bond movie was made) or 1959 (when the book was published).

without any problems whatsoever. You'd need several contiguous square meters of fuselage to be removed instantaneously to create a problem. And even then, you'd need to be unsecured right next to the hole to get pulled out. Otherwise, simply grab your breathing mask and read your book.

Even hitting a critical control system with a gun is difficult as all heck, unless you actually know exactly where everything is. Lots of redundancy, and 99% of a plane is nothing but air and sheetmetal. And while you're looking for the right spot, someone is going to be trying to break your neck.

There is really no reason to not restore the Second Amendment in airports and on planes.

20 years of military aviation maintenance.

is one of the protocols to plug a hole in a pressurized compartment.

is the amount of suction created relative to the altitude? Would "thinner air" make for a larger pressure differential and more suction? Would the size of the hole necessary to suck a person out decrease as the plane gained altitude?

I would think the danger of guns on planes would be more related to hijacking than decompression, then.