http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080326/ap_on_re_us/gun_on_plane;_ylt=AiP1ZNmrzsAamcozlaiPRXas0NUE
Well, now the details are coming out: a HK USP in 40 S&W that went off in the cockpit. A small hole in the side of the Airbus A319.
"... both Dowell and Fu-Kuo Chang, a professor of aeronautical engineering at Stanford University, said that airplane design emphasizes safety and that such a blast — even if it knocked out a window in mid-flight, isn't likely to cause the kind of damage that would lead immediately to a crash. If they lost a window, the people near that window would have been substantially uncomfortable," Dowell said. "You probably wouldn't have crashed the airplane. But there could have been some frightened people."
According to the article, pilots have 50 hours of mandatory training before they are allowed to carry their weapons on the plane. 5000 or more pilots and first officers have completed the courses.
