Topic for Myth Busters

They had one where they used an actual pigs stomach to see if pop rocks (remember them?) and soda pop swallowed together could make your stomach explode.

Then of course there was the rocket car episode with the Gates Bros.

If you missed the dead pig in the Corvette for 2 months, you haven't truly experienced the show.

The show tends to be fairly low budget and obviously won't do anything that endangers humans.

Where would they find something like a 727 that someone would let them crash? There is also the issue of how to pilot the plane without a human on board.

Brian Elfert

There have been several such schemes (stunts, commercials, etc) proposed at Mojave Airport where there are plenty of "expendable" aircraft. Some authority keeps nixing it, but all the parties are open to it.

I think we ought to have a show on the NAR vs JI.....heheheheheh snicker snicker shockie B)

So? Have them set a STATIONARY target on the side of a cliff and try and hit it. Have them put a heater on it. Let them put a home-made heatseeker in the rocket. Etc., etc. Anyone think they'll succeed, even with all of those advantages?

David Erbas-White

They pressurized a junked airplane and did the experiments on it. They first shot a bullet through a window. Nothing major happened. Then they blew out the window - the dummy got partially sucked out. Then they blew out a small chunk of the side of the plane - man, did it take a lot with it!

These guys are pretty inventive. They could break it into two parts:

1. How much explosive would it take to do serious damage to the plane?

This one was pretty much already done by the experiment last night. This gives us a lower mass for the warhead.

1. Can you hit an airplane with a dummy weight equivalent to the warhead?

Everyone agrees that a rocket would have to carry a warhead to take down a plane. From 1, we know the minimum mass of the warhead. Build some very frangible rockets with paint balloons for the warhead. See how hard it is to hit a mockup of an airplane on a hillside with the above. The mockup would be stationary, greatly easing the job. I doubt the test would get much beyond that stage. If you can't hit a stationary target on a hill, you don't even need to try using a real airplane as a target.

It would also be interesting to have them test how dangerous AP is: what happens if you have a box of the stuff stored in a garage and the house catches fire. There are fire departments that would be willing to sponsor such a controlled burn.

Given what's legally in the average garage, I suspect the AP is the not very high up on the list of worries.

Maybe I shouldn't say this, but if they're worried about AP, why are K-Mart and Wal-Mart and every dinky garden place allowed to sell insecticides? I won't permit that stuff to be stored in my own garage.

Give me spots on my apples But leave me the birds and the bees Please!

Zooty

Having a stationary target would increase the odds on any attempt. let's not make it to easy. Have the target(s) mave down a track, like tank gunnery targets.

I personally enjoyed the episode where they made a giant cannon and shot frozen and thawed chickens through the windows of a private airplane.

Don't fire departments have "burning grounds" where they build sample building sections, set fire to them, and practice putting the fires out?

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to get some actual safety data - might even lay the groundwork for putting a "storage exemption by regulation" in NFPA1127 or something.

-dave w

I've heard that if you've got a house that needs to be removed (demolished), you can "donate" it to the local fire department to be a training fire. I think they even arrange to hawl away the resultant rubbish. If one could link up with such as activity and provide the AP, the test could be that much more realistic at little additional cost.

Which is the number one reason why it's ridiculous to ban rockets -- the explosives for the warhead are already banned themselves!

A local firefighter told me that the EPA is cracking down on fire departments burning down old structures due to pollutants released into the atmosphere. Of course, the EPA can't regulate real structure fires much as they might like to.

I never even approached the the local FD about burning down my ramshackle house as the house next door was 9 feet away. I tore down the house with a bucket on an older tractor.

Brian Elfert

Just tether a balloon a thousand feet up and dare them to hit the stationary target with a high power rocket. It will be tough enough to accomplish that, much less an aircraft at several thousand feet flying a few hundred knots.

My favorite one was the 48x speed CD-rom shattering and throwing shrapnel out. It really did !

It was a 52x!

Tom

And don't forget when Jamie shot Adam in the behind with the penny gun....I just about cried when I saw Adam jumping around in pain:)

Watched this one last night off the Tivo.

Har har har hardy har.

Chickens.

So much for frangibility. Frozen or thawed...chickens at +100mph apparently go through just about anything.