That's what I always thought, too. And then the Mythbusters were nice enough to confirm it (Part 1, Part 2). Though, as many people have pointed out in the comments, this test does not account for what the wind would do.wheelgun1958 wrote:A few small (35-45 cal) holes would not cause rapid decompression. Might squeal a bit as some air is lost. Bleed air will keep up. The biggest concern would be damaging equipment and wiring.
I'd be waaAAaaYyYyY more worried about getting hit in the crossfire. Most of the people on board probably wouldn't know the rules of gun safety, so they'd all be muzzling each other with their fingers on the triggers and so on and so forth. There'd probably be an AD/ND three times a day. All in all, it's a bad idea. I'm all for letting CHL holders carry on board, though. I would be really worried about hitting control and fuel lines, but then I see pictures of planes that landed with all sorts of holes in them, so I'm only kinda worried. It really is amazing how damaged some of these are.
Then there's the military's F-15 (Israel's military, in this case):
And of course the perennially underrated A-10 -- an aircraft that can take be hit with anti-aircraft fire over 378 times and still bring its pilot home...
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... and can be flown without any hydraulics at all:
