Used to be a crew chief on F-111D fighters. Saw one where a sparrow punched a hole nearly a foot deep but only about an inch wide in the wing of my jet. He was a bit over Mach I when they collided.Call the studio, Tweety Bird wont be down for breakfast anymore.
LOL, yeah they actually do basically that same test on jet engs....Not to steal the post but kinda goes along in line with it.........
One of the funnest things I saw in my career as an mechianical engineer was at a vendor in the Texas area that made some composite graphite parts for one of our machines. While on a site visit several of us were in a secure room inspecting and reviewing our project and we kept hearing a "whomp" then about 45 minutes later another "whomp"and it was getting kind of annoying. The purchasing agent asked what the noise was and the answer was "oh that the air cannon firing mil-spec chickens at an airplane canopy. Say What???????
Well long story short we were allowed to witness one of the test cycles where they put an aircraft canopy on a fixture and loaded the air cannon with a mil-spec 4.5-5.0 pound chicken that had been frozen then thawed out to simulate a seagull for the birdstrike test. Well "our" chicken had and egg that came out during thawing and the decision was made to put the egg in the air cannon along with the chicken and the test was conducted. BLAM!!!!! Freakin chicken feathers and guts all over the test module and some poor guy had to come in and clean up the mess while the techs set up another canopy to test. The room was made of reenforced concrete and covered in some kind of epoxy so it could be washed down with a water hose and disinfected............but watching that chicken explode was funny as hell. Slow motion video of the chicken impact showed the canopy developing a "wave" as the energy was absorbed by the composite materials the canopy was made of. And that's why pilots have a height restriction so the pilot won't get hit by the canopy in a bird stick or so that's what they told us
Ahhh, the Rooster Booster as it's known.Not to steal the post but kinda goes along in line with it.........
One of the funnest things I saw in my career as an mechianical engineer was at a vendor in the Texas area that made some composite graphite parts for one of our machines. While on a site visit several of us were in a secure room inspecting and reviewing our project and we kept hearing a "whomp" then about 45 minutes later another "whomp"and it was getting kind of annoying. The purchasing agent asked what the noise was and the answer was "oh that the air cannon firing mil-spec chickens at an airplane canopy. Say What???????
Well long story short we were allowed to witness one of the test cycles where they put an aircraft canopy on a fixture and loaded the air cannon with a mil-spec 4.5-5.0 pound chicken that had been frozen then thawed out to simulate a seagull for the birdstrike test. Well "our" chicken had and egg that came out during thawing and the decision was made to put the egg in the air cannon along with the chicken and the test was conducted. BLAM!!!!! Freakin chicken feathers and guts all over the test module and some poor guy had to come in and clean up the mess while the techs set up another canopy to test. The room was made of reenforced concrete and covered in some kind of epoxy so it could be washed down with a water hose and disinfected............but watching that chicken explode was funny as hell. Slow motion video of the chicken impact showed the canopy developing a "wave" as the energy was absorbed by the composite materials the canopy was made of. And that's why pilots have a height restriction so the pilot won't get hit by the canopy in a bird stick or so that's what they told us
I knew a B-52 pilot who declared an emergency after having a hole torn in the wing.Used to be a crew chief on F-111D fighters. Saw one where a sparrow punched a hole nearly a foot deep but only about an inch wide in the wing of my jet. He was a bit over Mach I when they collided.
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