I am writing concerning the column written by Tim Kearns that appeared in the Feb. 24 Daily, titled “Arming pilots not the best idea.” He doesn’t seem to understand the basic principles of a pressurization system that is found in most airliners.

I am a private pilot with considerable experience for my age and I’d like to help him understand the basics.

He writes, “If you’re curious as to what firing guns in pressurized cabins can do, I highly recommend a 1964 documentary entitled ‘Goldfinger’ in which a man …” It’s too bad his knowledge of a pressurization system is based off a movie and not off facts.

A pressurization system has an inlet and an outflow valve. For the sake of this letter I am going to approximate the sizes of the inlets and outlets to manhole covers.

To pressurize an aircraft the pilot, or computer rather, partially closes the outflow valve and lets in more air through the inlet. The outflow valve is almost never closed during the flight at any time.

At altitude the cabin is kept at a constant pressure so there is the same amount of air coming in the inlet as going out the outlet. If bullet holes rupture the skin of the craft, the outflow valve will just close a certain amount to equalize the outflow.

Thus, a gunshot or even a broken window would not be enough to depressurize the cabin.

Furthermore, in a terrorist/ hijacking situation, pilots are trained to “dump” the cabin. Dumping the cabin is lingo for rapid decompression of the craft.

This, in essence, takes the air out of the cabin, giving passengers a useful consciousness of about 30 seconds. A terrorist would have to be tethered to an oxygen mask to do his terrorist activities (you know … hijacking the airplane and all).

Later in the column, Tim discussed the arming of pilots based on their psychological capability. I think you should have taken this a step further.

Any straight-thinking, sane person who boards the plane should be handed a Colt, cocked and locked. That way once the bastard makes a move for the cockpit he turns into high grade Swiss cheese.

I hope I have provided helpful information on why we should arm the pilots on airliners. Although I, too, enjoyed the movie, Tim seemed to miss the point that technical information about the pressurization system cannot and should not be derived from a movie.

Arm the pilots, arm the people: it’s the American way.

Justin T. Lindee

Sophomore

Electrical Engineering