A little mid-week CrossAtlantic Humor

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David Prall

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:D We've all heard the old saying, "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to..."

Well, maybe it does sometimes!

Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all traveling at maximum velocity.

The idea was 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 the gun was sent to the British engineers.

When the gun was fired, the British engineers stood speechless as the chicken hurtled out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, blasted through the control console, snapped the engineer's backrest in two, and embedded itself into 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 U.S. scientists for some suggestions.

NASA responded with this one-line memo: "Thaw the chickens."
 
What a difference 30 years makes!

1970: Long Hair
2000: Longing for hair

1970: The perfect high.
2000: The perfect high yield mutual fund.

1970: Acid Rock.
2000: Acid Reflux.

1970: Moving to California because it's cool.
2000: Moving to California because it's warm.

1970: Watching John Glenn's historic flight with your parents.
2000: Watching John Glenn's historic flight with your children.

1970: Trying to look like Marlon Brando or Elizabeth Taylor.
2000: Trying NOT to look like Marlon Brando or Elizabeth Taylor.

1970: Seeds and stems.
2000: Roughage.

1970: Our president's struggle with Fidel.
2000: Our president's struggle with fidelity.
 
I've heard that one before! Classic! :D
My father worked for DeHavilland when the first jet engines were being developed right at the end of WWII. Part of the bench testing regime was to throw various objects into the engine, while running at maximum thrust. To illustrate how times have changed, my father would stand off to the side of the engine under test, and throw in chickens, buckets of ice, 2x4s, bolts, nuts, etc., virtually unprotected except for goggles and earmuffs. He told me the chickens didn't make much difference, except the engine would slow down briefly and spit flaming feathers and black smoke out the tailpipe. The engine ran better with ice thrown in. Bolts and nuts frequently went through without causing damage. But the 2x4s caused the most damage, because it took awhile for the compressor stage to chew it up, and that frequently caused the compressor to fail. When my dad told me that I was rolling around on the floor! These days an engine under test is housed in a concrete bunker!
 
Tube60....... that's just a little scary :) Good think your father never walked in FRONT of one of those little engines! :eek:
 
David Prall said:
Tube60....... that's just a little scary :) Good think your father never walked in FRONT of one of those little engines! :eek:
Yeah, the engineers doing the tests told him to never face the engine at less than a 45 deg. angle. Wonder how they learned that.... :eek:
 
Tube60 said:
Yeah, the engineers doing the tests told him to never face the engine at less than a 45 deg. angle. Wonder how they learned that.... :eek:


That's extremely scary. And it happened recently...

Monday, January 16, 2006; (CNN) -- A mechanic standing near a Boeing 737 at El Paso International Airport in Texas was sucked into one of the engines and killed Monday, officials said.
 

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Ewww. I hope for the sake of the mechanics family those pictures weren't in the local paper!
 

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