# What is the chance that a firework will hit an aeroplane tonight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653 "2005-11-05T14:57:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wattschri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@Wattschri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wattschri)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653/1 "2005-11-05T14:57:41Z")
What would be the effect, would a firework just ‘bounce off’ the plane if the interception actually happened from all odds? A firework could go to about the height of at max 1000 feet. Modern jetliners typically cruse at about 26000-36000 ft some aeroplanes have been known to hit the 85,068 ft marker for the extremes but this is classified to anything further. What is the chance that a firework could actually hit a landing jetliner? Has it ever happened? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653/2 "2005-11-05T14:59:29Z")
WAG: It’d just bounce off. Maybe dent a panel. ---
**Author:** ![Wattschri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@Wattschri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wattschri)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653/3 "2005-11-05T16:10:06Z")
what’s the chance that it could hit it? surely some part of the plane could be affected? ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653/4 "2005-11-05T16:43:47Z")
I’d put it at about 1 in 10,000. You’d have to factor a number of things such as length of time between lighting it and blast off, speed and direction of airplane, speed and direction of firework, and uncalculable things such as wind speed and direction at any given place and time. All in all if you’re somewhat good at it, I’d give you a 1 in 100 chance. I say 1 in 10,000 because there’s little chance you’d actually get more than a few shots off before the police came to haul your ass off to jail… ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653/5 "2005-11-05T17:07:41Z")
It’s a modest danger near airports. More from the sudden flashes of light than impacts. Large jetliners often have autoland systems, but a pilot of a lighter aircraft could flinch at an unfortunate time. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653/6 "2005-11-05T21:39:32Z")
Given that my knucklehead friends once got into a fireworks fight, whereby they shot firework mortors at each other and survived mostly unharmed, I think a jetliner would withstand a direct hit with minimal damage if any at all. ---
**Author:** ![Wattschri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@Wattschri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wattschri)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653/7 "2005-11-05T22:39:09Z")
What would happen if it actually hit the front window? I mean I know those things are tested for incoming birds. lol I just remembered \*\* This is a true story \*\* In Britain they used a machine to throw chickens at the screen of an aeroplane to test if it would break if a bird did actually hit the screen. Sure the chickens were dead. It worked and they made the screen withstand impact from chickens. They sold the idea to America. The Americans who tried it out couldn’t work out how why the window keeps smashing. They asked Britain for advice. The British people replied “did you defrost the chickens first?” Oh today one of the fireworks from the Cuckfield display actually came down and landed a foot away from me. Sure it wasn’t as explosive as I had imagined but I bet it would have hurt if it hit me on the head. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653/8 "2005-11-06T05:27:09Z")
> [@Wattschri](#): > > \*\* This is a true story \*\* No, it isn’t. See the article about this story at Snopes: [http://www.snopes.com/science/cannon.htm](http://www.snopes.com/science/cannon.htm) This silly story has been floating around for at least 15 years. Though the nationalities mentioned generally chang to hype your country, and insult some country you dislike. (The version cited at SNOPES has the US FAA teaching it to the British.) ---
**Author:** ![Wattschri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@Wattschri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wattschri)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653/9 "2005-11-06T18:15:09Z")
:d ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653/10 "2005-11-06T19:04:09Z")
Aircraft windscreens are tougher than you might think. They’ve obviously considered the danger to the aircraft if an object was to destroy the windscreen and taken steps to prevent it happening. To save me laboriously typing out the construction of a modern screen here’s a citehttp://www.flug-revue.rotor.com/FRheft/FRH0308/FR0308h.htm to save me the bother. > [@](#): > > Normal window glass, such as was used in the pioneering days of flying, simply cannot satisfy the demands made on it in modern aircraft construction. Today cabin windows are normally constructed from single-layer acrylic. Cockpit windows on the other hand are multi-layered and ever better hardened against the rising demands of frequent, fast flying at high altitudes. A comparison between the cockpit windows on the Boeing 707 and 737, both manufactured by PPG Industries of Huntsville, Alabama, demonstrates just what enormous advances in window technology have occurred in recent decades. Whereas their basic design has remained the same, thanks to over a dozen technical improvements their service life has risen from about a year or 1,500 flying hours to being virtually without limit, yet at the same time the amount of maintenance they require, with its associated costs, has declined dramatically. A firework shouldn’t be much of a problem. I’ve seen a BAC111 return to base having gone through a hailstorm where there were large dents all over the skin, particularly the tailplane, and the windscreens were completely undamaged. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chance-that-a-firework-will-hit-an-aeroplane-tonight/329653/11 "2005-11-06T20:52:41Z")
> [@Vetch](#): > > I’ve seen a BAC111 return to base having gone through a hailstorm where there were large dents all over the skin, particularly the tailplane, and the windscreens were completely undamaged. Yes. I’ve been in the same hangar as a Gulfstream which had suffered severe hail damage. Our first impression was that it had been shot up. This new transparent aluminium stuff sounds pretty exciting.