Buckshot Bear Posted November 15, 2021 Share Posted November 15, 2021 Scientists at Air New Zealand built a gun specifically to launch dead chickens at the windshields of airliners travelling at maximum velocity. The idea is to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of the windshields.Australian engineers heard about the gun and were eager to test it on the windshields of their new Qantas A380 aircraft. Arrangements were made, and a gun was sent to the Australian 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 Aussies sent Air New Zealand the disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs of the windshield and begged the Kiwi scientists for suggestions.......Air New Zealand responded with a one-line memo: "Defrost the chicken......" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485 Posted November 15, 2021 Share Posted November 15, 2021 Heard that many years ago, but it was the Americans that made the gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irish ike, SASS #43615 Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 Myth Busters did this experiment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 42 minutes ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said: Myth Busters did this experiment FOUR times before they could replicate the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 I have heard this numerous times. First it was our Air Force, then the English, then Nazi Germany, now Australia. You’d think someone would have told somebody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckshot Bear Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 A grebe did this......imagine a goose! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 49 minutes ago, Buckshot Bear said: A grebe did this......imagine a goose! ........ like they said, ... shoulda thawed it out first .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El CupAJoe Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 I did bird strike testing on props in Wichita at my previous job. We had a 40 foot potato gun. Pushed a 4 lb chicken to the same muzzle velocity as a 45acp. We'd rain chicken all over the parking lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El CupAJoe Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 1 hour ago, Buckshot Bear said: A grebe did this......imagine a goose! There was a turbo prop commuter plane taking off from Aberdeen Airport about 2001, I think, it hit a flock of Canadian and snow geese, if I recall correctly approximately 21 impacts. One of the birds dislodged the windshield wiped, it flew back into the prop. The prop hit it into the cabin, where the windshield wiper found its new home in someone 's leg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 11 minutes ago, El CupAJoe said: There was a turbo prop commuter plane taking off from Aberdeen Airport about 2001, I think, it hit a flock of Canadian and snow geese, if I recall correctly approximately 21 impacts. One of the birds dislodged the windshield wiped, it flew back into the prop. The prop hit it into the cabin, where the windshield wiper found its new home in someone 's leg. When I was stationed at MCAS New River, in Jacksonville N.C. our Base Commander was flying a Huey that took a hit from a seagull. Clean through the windscreen, right to the face. Broke his neck. Only the fast thinking of his Crew Chief saved his life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Harley, #14153 Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 Was flying out of Harrisburg, PA one morning on a commuter jet. During climb out there was the loudest bang followed by a screaming metal-on-metal sound that slowly changed pitch. The crew went into an emergency action drill and we came back to safely land. An hour later we were standing in the gate area when the pilot came in to share photos he’d just received from maintenance. A goose had gone through the right engine and destroyed it. Credit to the engineers and crew that there was no “Miracle on the Susquehanna” that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 We have done it for years. I worked in the aerospace industry for 40 years and saw this test done on the B1A, B1B, Space Shuttle, B2 and many fighters. Nothing new here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 On a lesser scale I have tested motorcycle helmet face shields with June Bugs, Bees, Hornets, Cicadas, Grasshoppers and other assorted insects and objects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 McDonnel Douglas was doing that in 1984 when I worked for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Years ago when I worked for an architect in Fort Worth we did work at General Dynamics. It is now Lockheed Martin. They had a test area for the canopies and a special cannon if you will to shoot chickens at them. I believe it used something like compressed air to propel them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc X Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 I watched a documentary on the design of the Boeing 777. They showed a chicken gun being used to test the new engines for resistance to bird strikes. The slow motion footage of the chicken entering the engine was ........ something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. James H. Callahan Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 On 11/15/2021 at 10:38 PM, El CupAJoe said: I did bird strike testing on props in Wichita at my previous job. We had a 40 foot potato gun. Pushed a 4 lb chicken to the same muzzle velocity as a 45acp. We'd rain chicken all over the parking lot. I bet they sell them to Banquet for TV dinners. JHC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 On 11/16/2021 at 9:55 AM, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said: On a lesser scale I have tested motorcycle helmet face shields with June Bugs, Bees, Hornets, Cicadas, Grasshoppers and other assorted insects and objects. I still have my visor that has a large chip in it right in line with my right eye. Watched that rock fall off the dump truck bounce twice and then clear my windscreen by 1\2 inch before impacting my helmet visor. Felt like it took 10 minutes to happen. Have a buddy that loved skid lids till a June bug hit his exposed forehead. Didn't knock him off the bike but came close. Took him to the nearest ER to get patched up. Doc told him that it punched a hole all the way to his skull. From then on he wore a better helmet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailrider #896 Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 I don't remember which one it was, but one of the NASA pilots was flying into St. Louis in a T-38. He took a goose hit that smashed the windscreen and...took his head off! Might have been Ted Freeman. CRS. You also might recall that Capt. Sully had bird impacts to both engines of his airliner, that resulted in his skilled landing in the East (?) River! The formula is 1/2mv^2. Which is why we are so upset over the Russians blowing up one of their own dead satellites with their ASAT! That debris could destroy anything it hits, and the impact energy would depend on the mass of the particle and the combined velocities of the particle and the object struck! The International Space Station is travelling about 17,500 mph. If a one gram particle going in the opposite direction at the same velocity were to impact the station, the combined velocities would be 35,000 mph! I'll leave it to you to figure out the impact energy! The effect if it hit a pressurized module would be disastrous, which is why they had the astronaut/cosmonaut crews take cover in their respective spacecraft. Of course if the debris hit one of them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Kris Posted November 19, 2021 Share Posted November 19, 2021 On 11/15/2021 at 6:49 PM, Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485 said: Heard that many years ago, but it was the Americans that made the gun. I heard this when I was building DC10's and MD 80's.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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