wiped out
on 07/25/2008 at 08:54 PM
All I can say to the Qantas incident is this: It is amazing that a commercial aircraft can take damage like that and land safely. Seems to me there was a United 747 that lost part of it’s side some years ago, yet landed safely at Honolulu despite 2 engines being out and having a large hole in it. Very few (if any) 747’s have been lost because of actual aircraft problems. Pilot error or outside forces (Lockerbie, Flight 800, KAL007, etc). Great job by the flight crew.
I certainly wouldn’t claim that it is definitely *not* terrorist action, but....
...it occurs to me that for most any aircraft in flight, if something happens to spoil the skin integrity, (thereby spoiling the aerodynamics at that spot), the air pressure created by the aircraft’s own speed is sufficient to rip large pieces of the skin loose. And yes, if it came off as a single piece, there would quite likely be a bang or boom.
Could it be an attempted bombing that really only served to hightlight some terrorist’s incompetence? From what little I can tell, sure. But it could just as easily be one or two failed rivets right at the windward edge of that piece, too.
