Air shows

[Sheila]

There have been a couple of air shows near here over the weekend and we were lucky to see a Spitfire and a Hurricane fly over our garden.

I understand a Red Arrow was in trouble when a bird smashed through the cockpit and the pilot had to be guided by another plane.  Paul used to work on a base where the Red Arrows trained and said that they practice for this type of thing.

[klondike]

I imagine they have to. They have to fly fairly low for air displays and there must always be a chance of a collision. It isn't something I would have thought about until you mentioned it though.

August 29, 2022, 10:29:21 AM
Your post reminded me of this golden oldie...

The US Federal Aviation Administration has a unique device for testing the strength of windshields on airplanes. The device is a gun that launches a dead chicken at a plane's windshield at approximately the speed the plane flies.

The theory is that if the windshield doesn't crack from the carcass impact, it'll survive a real collision with a bird during flight.

It seems the British were very interested in this and wanted to test a windshield on a brand new, speedy locomotive they're developing.

They borrowed FAA's chicken launcher, loaded the chicken and fired.

The ballistic chicken shattered the windshield, broke the engineer's chair and embedded itself in the back wall of the engine's cab. The British were stunned and asked the FAA to recheck the test to see if everything was done correctly.

The FAA reviewed the test thoroughly and had one recommendation:

"Use a thawed chicken."

[Sheila]

[Raven]

We don't need to go to an Air Show to get a good view of old planes. They are up here several times a year and always fly far to low for comfort. Scare the living daylights out of the horses, and Dageus hates them, he bolts for the door to get inside when he hears them.    

[Michael Rolls]

ouch!

[Sheila]

Globemaster Raven?  We have had one flying around here recently.

[Alex]

The most impressive plane that flew over my head   was the Beluga coming in to land at Chester. 

[klondike]

Globemaster Raven?  We have had one flying around here recently.

Trawling Google leads me to Airbus A400M as it's a turboprop.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A400M_Atlas

Having no animals to worry about I wouldn't mind those. I guess they'd have to be higher over a town anyway.

[Ashy]

I gather there are air shows next week at Clacton and Bournemouth. The Red Arrows appearing at both, I suppose they are about 20 minutes apart in one of those.

[Sheila]

The most impressive plane that flew over my head   was the Beluga coming in to land at Chester. 

That regularly flies over us.  It carries wings doesn't it?

[Ashy]

So did this You cannot view this attachment.

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[klondike]

I gather there are air shows next week at Clacton and Bournemouth. The Red Arrows appearing at both, I suppose they are about 20 minutes apart in one of those.

Might be others in the circuit too. I doubt they only do a couple at a time.

[Alex]

That regularly flies over us.  It carries wings doesn't it?

Yes it does, close up it's ginormous !

[Ashy]

You'd think they would just fix the wings onto a fuselage and take them off when they get there.