MLONG%UCONNVM.BITNET@YALEVM.YCC.Yale.Edu (MELONG) (03/15/91)
From: MELONG <MLONG%UCONNVM.BITNET@YALEVM.YCC.Yale.Edu> At Pratt & Whitney we used a chicken ingestion test in the test cells to determine the effects of bird strikes/ingestions. The jet engines were brought up to speed and a frozen ( animal rights against using live) chicken was "shot" into the engine and the effects then monitored. This aids in the design of fan blades that will spin foreign objects out into the area of high bypass and not into the compressor section of the engine. FAA also has blade containment specs that must be tested for and met. After the ingestion takes place IF fan/compressor blades are released, the parts must be contained within the casing/nacelle. MLONG@UCONNVM
jackson@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (03/28/91)
From: jackson@cpsc.ucalgary.ca Continuing the 'Chicken Gun' thread... About 10 years or so ago, 60 Minutes had a segment describing this very thing, calling it the chicken cannon or chicken gun. They showed many slo-mo shots of birds going thru the windscreens of civilian and military aircraft. They also had an interview with a pilot (of a F111 I believe) who had survived a Canadian Goose strike. The thing entered the left side of the windscreen, went thru the HUD (?), and carried on thru his shoulder on into the back of the aircraft. The pictures of his injuries were unbelievable...it had taken out his collarbone and part of his shoulder socket. After years of rehab it still looked terrible! By the by...the pet name for the cannon as called by the techs who fire it was the... "Rooster Booster" (no kidding!) Dwight Jackson (U of C)