Sometimes it DOES take a Rocket Scientist!!
Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch standard 4
lb dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets
& 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.
French engineers heard about the gun & were eager to test it on
the windshields of their new high speed trains. Arrangements
were made, & a gun was sent to the French 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, & embedded itself in the back
wall of the cabin, like an arrow shot from a bow.
The horrified French sent NASA the disastrous results of the
experiment, along with the designs of the windshield & begged
the US scientists for suggestions.
NASA responded with a one-line memo.
-- "Defrost the chicken." (True Story)
Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch standard 4
lb dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets
& 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.
French engineers heard about the gun & were eager to test it on
the windshields of their new high speed trains. Arrangements
were made, & a gun was sent to the French 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, & embedded itself in the back
wall of the cabin, like an arrow shot from a bow.
The horrified French sent NASA the disastrous results of the
experiment, along with the designs of the windshield & begged
the US scientists for suggestions.
NASA responded with a one-line memo.
-- "Defrost the chicken." (True Story)
