NU101080%ndsuvm1.BITNET%MITVMA.MIT.EDU@uunet.UU.NET (01/20/89)
Think about this- Would you like to light up a cigarette(? spelling) next to a plane with a few thousand pounds of jet fuel onboard?
charette@edsews.eds.com (Mark A. Charette) (01/20/89)
In article <3213@cbnews.ATT.COM>, nak@cbnews.ATT.COM (Neil A. Kirby) writes: > his tests and then armed the missile and waved his cigarette around the > nose of the missile ( from a few feet away) and watched the little IR > eye to make sure it tracked the lit cigarette. On a working missile it While I was stationed on the Coral Sea and Enterprise, this method of testing was used (because it was fun !) but not recommended (:^) . Of course, this was many (7 or 8) years ago and the test procedure may have found it's way in the book by now. 8^) As for the missles being ARMED - I don't think they were armed, just the sensor and fin motors turned on. -- Mark Charette "People only like me when I'm dumb!", he said. Electronic Data Systems "I like you a lot." was the reply. 750 Tower Drive Voice: (313)265-7006 FAX: (313)265-5770 Troy, MI 48007-7019 charette@edsews.eds.com uunet!edsews!charette
fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) (01/21/89)
In article <3213@cbnews.ATT.COM>, nak@cbnews.ATT.COM (Neil A. Kirby) writes: > > One of the technicians on a carrier was checking out the heat > sensor on a Sidewinder, mounted on an F-4. The tech finished most of > his tests and then armed the missile and waved his cigarette around the > nose of the missile ( from a few feet away) and watched the little IR > eye to make sure it tracked the lit cigarette. On a working missile it > tracks really nicely. One of my physics teachers in college was one of the original developers of the IR sensors that ended up in the Sidewinder. (He worked on them in a previous life at China Lake.) The sensitivity of some of the early systems was quite amazing, and they found some rather...unusual applications. Like being slaved to a water jet to deal with a particular administrator's noxious cigar. Another incident was triggered when they noticed that a particularly well-endowed secretary always seemed to have a slightly higher body temperature than anyone else in the group... Some anecdotes related to early missile research, including early IR guidance development, appeared in a small book entittled "Some Birds Don't Fly". If you happen to find it, it's worth reading. > Did this ever get to widespread use? Doesn't sound safe to me, > but hey, I'm just a computer hacker. Does the manufacturer say > anything about this? Or was this merely an accident waiting to > happen? Shouldn't be a problem as long as the warhead and motor aren't armed.