rocket science

[itsaboattime]

(True Story)
Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch
standard 4 pound dead chickens at the windshields of
airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all
traveling at maximum velocity. The idea is to simulate the
frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test
the strength of the windshields. British engineers heard
about the gun and were eager to test it on the windshields
of their new high speed trains. Arrangements were
made, and a gun was sent to the British engineers. When the
gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken
hurled out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof
shield, smashed it to smithereens, blasted through the
control console, snapped the engineer's back-rest in
two, and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin, like
an arrow shot from a bow. The horrified Brits sent NASA the
disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs
of the windshield and begged the US scientists for
suggestions. NASA responded with a one-line memo --
"Defrost the chicken."

 

[Bifflefan]

Re: rocket science

Been done on Mythbusters a couple times.

 

[itsaboattime]

Re: rocket science

Been done on Mythbusters a couple times.

I suppose..............but still funny!!!!!

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: rocket science

The threat is real and I've seen video of the cannon test on one of those intelligent programs (not idiotbusters). Hopkins Internation airport and burke Lakefront on Lake Erie's shorelines are especially high risk to waterfoul strikes as well as them getting sucked up into the turbines.

 

[angus63]

Re: rocket science

I witnessed hail and bird ingestion tests at GE in Ohio when part of the GENX engine protoflight team. Amazing the damage caused by a seagull passing thru a turbine!!!

 

[JB]

Re: rocket science

We hit a flock of gulls going into Kodiak, AK with an R6D (C118) in '57. Four R2800s didn't miss a beat, but they sure made a mess of the radome and the nose wheel doors. I remember four seperate BANGS.

We were only doing about 150, on approach, but those birds made one serious bang when they collided with the aircraft.

Sure glad they weren't frozen.

 

[eastont]

Re: rocket science

Maybe they should put Canada Geese in the gun and test jet engines.

 

[mike64]

Re: rocket science

Heard it before, but good joke

I wonder--how come they can't put some kind of heavy-duty screening or something over the jet engine intakes to keep the geese out? Seems like they'd be able to make some kind of screen these days strong enough, with a narrow enough gauge to not restrict airflow too much. Maybe one day out of those carbon nanotube fibers or something...?

 

[steve201]

Re: rocket science

weight...it's all about weight...weight costs gas....gas costs money......

I work at Boeing....

Hey itsabouttime....nice avitar....I used to work in the marine industry..specifically electrical design, systems integration on subs/surface combat ships....spruance class ships were fun to work on....so were the kidd class..

Steve

 

[itsaboattime]

Re: rocket science

weight...it's all about weight...weight costs gas....gas costs money......

I work at Boeing....

Hey itsabouttime....nice avitar....I used to work in the marine industry..specifically electrical design, systems integration on subs/surface combat ships....spruance class ships were fun to work on....so were the kidd class..

Steve

Spru-cans and Kidds were the same hulls, different applications. The Merrill was a good ol girl. She was also a test platform for Tomahawks. She went years without a yard period......all in the name of seeing how long she could go without one. She presently rests north of Hawaii about 200 miles under about 2 miles of sea.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: rocket science

We hit a flock of gulls going into Kodiak, AK...

I ALWAYS wondered what happened to that band?!

 

[CaptainKev]

Re: rocket science

I worked at a development jet engine facility for almost 15 years testing all kinds of engine ingestion. It's amazing what they can gobble up and spit out without any major damage to the engine. On the flip side, it's also amazing what damage a small sheet metal screw can do. The primary concern over recent years is that the fans are getting larger and the blades are getting lighter. In earlier prototype ingestion tests it wasn't that unusual for the larger fan blades to snap at the root and go through the fan case. Not good news if the blades went through the planes fuselage. Thankfully, much progress has been made since then. Kevlar blankets, redesigned blades and incredible materials can survive multiple hits and still keep on going. Modern jet engines are unbelievably sophisticated and reliable. However, their Achilles Heel is still F.O.D. (Foreign Object Damage). Many attempts at screens etc. have been flight tested but that comes with a variety of risks as well, like icing etc. Breakaway ice becomes the F.O.D. If I had any concerns about modern flight, it's the lack of redundant engines for these wide body 500+ people aircraft that we're flying. While I'm very aware that it's a cost issue, it's also a risk issue. I'm really glad I'm not the one that has to justify the statistics for those decisions because my gut tells me that more people and less power plant redundancy is not a risk I could live with.
CaptainKev

 

[rbh]

Re: rocket science

First set of turbine blades should be from the ginsue collection.

 

[steve201]

Re: rocket science

Spru-cans and Kidds were the same hulls, different applications. The Merrill was a good ol girl. She was also a test platform for Tomahawks. She went years without a yard period......all in the name of seeing how long she could go without one. She presently rests north of Hawaii about 200 miles under about 2 miles of sea.

yeah....kidd's were the shah's goatboats...yep..same hulls ....too bad the Merrill is knee deep now...hate seeing them go to the bone yard or the briney deep...such a waste of good steel and Al...


Steve