At 12:16 PM 1/4/05 -0500, John Kelsey wrote:

Interesting questions: How hard is it for someone to actually hit an airplane with a rifle bullet? How often do airplane maintenance people notice bulletholes?

My understanding is that a single bullethole in a plane is not likely to do anything serious to its operation--the hole isn't big enough to depressurize the cabin of a big plane, and unless it hits some critical bits of the plane, it's not going to cause mechanical problems.

FWIW Recall that a few 'copters have been taken down with AK fire, though the birds/round is likely low. And copters are more delicate than a multi-engined fixed wing. Hitting the cabin would be pretty effective though. And certain parts of big planes are vital, perhaps moreso on fly by wire Airbus planes. A homemade mortar through the roof of your van (IRA style) onto a stationary, taxiing plane would be pretty spectacular, sitting ducks... lots of cameras... easy getaway or repeat fire.. Of course the BMG crap is all about eroding rights, not reality.