Sat, Mar 13, 2010
Tests Show A330 Fuselage Would Not Have Been Breached
While admitting there are some discrepancies, a documentary
produced by the BBC, which aired this week on The Discovery
Channel, maintains that the bomb allegedly carried by Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab would not have been strong enough to bring down the
Northwest A330 as it descended into Detroit on December 25th.
In the program "How Safe Are Our Skies," the producers used a
PETN device they say was identical to the one allegedly carried by
Abdulmutallab, and detonated it inside the fuselage of a
decommissioned 747 in a position identical to the one occupied by
the alleged bomber. Video of the event shows the outer skin of the
aircraft bulging and rippling from the force of the explosion, but
it does not open a hole in the side of the airplane. Captain J.
Joseph, identified in the documentary as an aviation expert, said
the explosion popped a few rivets out of the skin, but there would
not have been any explosive decompression of the airplane. "The
actual aircraft would have remained intact," he told Discovery
News.
The documentary concludes that, had the bombing been
successful, the bomber and the person sitting next to him would
have been killed, but most passengers and crew would have survived
the explosion. Many would have suffered ruptured eardrums from the
shock wave created by the blast.
While a decommissioned 747 is not exactly a newer A330, the
documentary producers say that works in the test's favor. The
composite materials used in the A330 fuselage are stronger than the
older aircraft's aluminum skin, and would have withstood the blast
better. They also say that, because the attempt came at about
10,000 feet as the airplane was descending to land, the differences
in air pressure between the inside of the aircraft and ambient
pressure would not have been great enough to be a significant
factor.
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