At 12:11 PM 9/13/01 -0700, you wrote:
>According to the aviation expert on ABC News, they can't strengthen
>the door too much between the cockpit and the cabin because of concerns
>about depressurization. In the event of a loss of pressure accident,
>it is imperative that pressures be quickly equalized between cockpit and
>cabin, otherwise something horrible will happen. He didn't say what,
>but I gather that the plane would fall apart. As a result, the doors
>presently have specially weakened panels which blow out if there is a
>pressure difference. According to this expert, "you can't put a bank
>vault door up there."
>
>Hal
If the bulkhead was properly designed, the only horrible thing that would
happen is that either the cabin or the cockpit would depressurize, while
the other retained pressure. If the bulkhead was just slapped in, a'la the
"bulletproof shields" put in many taxi cabs, it could cause more damage as
it ripped loose of it's mountings. It's just proper engineering to make it
safe. Even a makeshift barrier with pressure equalizing valves would not
change the pressurization effects, if done correctly.
If you did not mind losing the payload capacity (and raising fares
astronomically) you could indeed put a "vault door" up there. It would be
an exceedingly dumb idea unless you are expecting terrorists who attempt to
get into the cockpit with high explosives...and then, who would be left to
care?
Chuck Kuecker
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:40:44 MDT