In article ,
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 00:46:41 GMT, "LawsonE" wrote:

All I've been pointing out is that there is no "absolute" verdict you
can
give on this subject since it would depend on what was hit, where, and
with
what. The worst case would be shooting holes in avionics, or causing
some
kind of engine trouble that might lead to further destruction. A
slightly
less dangerous case (I'm guessing) would be where a bullet hit the
forward
windscreen, punching a hole in it. Anyone who wants to tell me that the
structural integrity of any material with a hole punched in it is the
same
as the non-damaged material, is full of it. No-one has cited a test or
incident where a bullet was shot into the front windscreen while the
plane
was travelling 500mph, and even if there are such incidents, the
conditions
are so extreme that one or two examples probably don't say anything
about
the "average" case.

There are airplanes, including 747s, that have continued to fly quite
nicely, if rather noisily in the cockpit, after striking Canada geese
with the windscreens, cracking them.

Horrible mental image of a bird reaching up and goosing a 747...

Aircraft windscreens are a)
over-designed for bird strikes, b) made of numerous layers laminated
with the same sort of stuff used in car windshields, and c) backed up
by cockpit/cabin pressurization systems with considerably more
capacity than they use in normal flight.

I might also point out that the windscreen in front of the captain is
entirely separate from the windscreen in front of the first officer,
so damage on one side won't affect the other side. The side
windscreens are also separate, as are the eyebrow windscreens, where
present. Since forward vision is not required to land an airplane,
particularly a highly-automated airliner, damage to one windscreen is
not any big deal.

Mary, are there any provisions to protect the pilot on the damaged from
at least the annoyance of wind? If nothing else, it's going to be COLD.

I freely concede that a windscreen with a bullet hole in it is not the
same as an undamaged windscreen, but the undamaged windscreen is
sufficiently strong that the damage from the bullet hole is not enough
to render the damaged windscreen useless or hazardous.