Re: High Speed Chicken Tests

["Graham Wood" <graham.wood@studentmail.newcastle.edu.au>]

I think they need a High speed cow and sheep gun for the XPT


Jane Coyle <coylewis@netlink.com.au> wrote in message
39115281.6603BB09@netlink.com.au">news:39115281.6603BB09@netlink.com.au...
> An old old old oldie but a goodie.  True story pre-dated XPT by thirty
> years, but hey!
>
> "<==MeČ==>" wrote:
> >
> > High Speed Chicken Tests
> > Development engineers at Qantas have built a low velocity gun designed
> > specifically to launch dead chickens at the windshields of planes. The
idea
> > is to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl
to
> > test the strength of the windshields of its various aircraft. Tested at
> > differing angles and impacts of varying velocities up to 500 km/hr, the
> > tests were successful in that there were no windshield breakages. The
> > Department of Transport were eager to test the gun on Countrylink's XPTs
and
> > requested to borrow the low velocity gun for State Rail engineers to
test
> > the windshields of the XPTs. The aim was to develop a windshield of a
design
> > that would ensure safety with new higher speed trains that various
> > consortiums were lobbying the government to introduce. Arrangements were
> > made for the delivery of the gun from Qantas and Countrylink arranged a
test
> > set up. But when the gun was fired at a velocity of just 100km/hr, the
> > engineers stood shocked as the chicken hurtled out of the gun's barrel,
> > smashed through the XPT's shatterproof shield, crashed through the
Driver's
> > control console, snapped the backrest of the driver's seat in two and
> > embedded itself in the back wall of the driver's compartment, and set
off
> > the NAFS fire suppression system. The horrified State Rail engineers
quickly
> > called upon the Qantas engineers to examine the disastrous results of
the
> > experiment. When the Qantas engineers visited the test site and
recovered
> > the dead chicken from the driver's compartment they made only one simple
> > recommendation. "Thaw the chickens first."... :-) "