Tips, Tricks and Newb Questions: Reborn!

Thanks Junknown.

Another question: I just encountered my first NPC (apart from the starting companion), who happens to be a bandit who went hostile as soon as I approached. I’m just turning around and leaving for now, but are bandits always hostile, or is there some way to win them over?
If I have to I’ll engage him at a later point, but it’s a bit sad to find the first other (living) human only to have to kill him.

Edit:
Another question: I’ve found a crashed airliner, and there are two metal doors in the cargo hold. The door can’t be picked, and don’t seem to take any damage with a heavy sledgehammer (I think that’s the most powerful wrecking tool/weapon). As far as I’ve found, it would be possible to use an acetylene torch to open them, but while I have a torch, I don’t have any source of fuel for it, and it’s almost empty as it is.
As a fairly new character, I don’t have access to exotic methods like explosives or building a vehicle down there to smash the doors.
Is cutting them open with a torch the only reasonable option (my character has an STR of 9, if that’s important)?