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Written by sas
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Wednesday, 10 August 2005 |
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Episode: Escape Slide Parachute Original Air Date August 10, 2005 Myths: Escape Slide Parachute
Myth #1: Escape Slide Parachute
Myth: Surviving a fall from an aircraft using an escape slide or life raft as a parachute (as seen in Indiana Jones Temple of Doom).
Experts: Rick Dickson: Owner D&R Sales and Service
Memorable Moments/Quotes:
Grant: "Coffee Flavored Stimulants... I'm going to eat as many of these as I can get"
Adam (speaking about probably outcomes of test one): "More likely though, is that he spins like a coin on the way down and lands in a total horror show."
Rob (after rigging gives way): "Small crash test dummies, friends and family of Buster may find the following pictures disturbing".
Adam (Speechless and in shock): "oh my god!! Oh my god!! Oh Crimeny!!"
Rob: "Adam celebrates with more coffee tablets...and like Tigger, he does his best thinking while bouncing".
Setup:
An average human reaches terminal velocity within the first 14 seconds of a free fall. Due to this, it is determined that the test does not need to go any higher than 2,000 feet.
Team needs to determine how fast the fall is and how hard the landing is. To this end, Grant rigs a bunch of meters: an accelerometer in Buster's head, a velocity meter; bones that will break in accordance with human bones and shock meters. A radar gun will also be used to track Buster's plunge to the ground.
Test 1:
Buster is secured in the center of the life raft and the raft is raised to by a Sikorski S58. However the rigging breaks at 400 feet and Buster plummets to the ground and shatters. Grant and Adam rebuild him.
A second run is attempted. The raft flips over and Buster is jettisoned. The raft is clocked at 22 mph, Buster clocked in at 154 mph. A parachutist lands safely at 14 mph so it is possible that the raft could slow down the descent significantly.
A third is prepared by tying Buster to the underside of the raft to see if it will act like a parachute.
Result:
In the third run all 50G shock watches broke, but the chest, 75G and 100Gís did not get tripped. However he sustained substantial damage. But he may have survived. However it is highly unlikely that someone would have been able to achieve this setup while exiting a plane at high speed.
Test 2:
Using a DC-10 escape slide they set up a rig with secured Buster in the middle of the slide. The rig is raised to 2,000 feet and dropped. The slide glides down but does not flip. The decent was in the range of 20mph.
Result: Not a single bone was broken on Buster, nor were any of the shock watches tripped. The slide both slowed the fall and acted as an airbag at landing.
Myth Conclusion: Busted. Logistically it is not possible to set up the rigs or get the escape slide / raft out the door and set up in the event of an emergency.
Myth #2: Exploding Hair Cream
Myth: In 1950's the Canadian Air force had a number of accidents with their fighter planes. Allegedly, the pilots were decapitated by an explosion, which was caused by a combination of hair cream, an oxygen rich environment and a spark from the communications system.
Memorable Moments/Quotes:
Tory: "Math stuff's hard!"
Adam: "Tiny headed Canadians" as he tries to put on the helmet and facemask.
Adam: "How come Jaime gets top billing. What the hell is that?"
Tory commenting on the hair mustache: "His long lost son ... during the time in Korea... his long lost son shows up at his front door."
Small Scale Setup:
The team sets out to determine on a small scale if hair and hair cream would be combustible in an oxygen rich environment. The build team builds an explosion chamber.
Scaled Test 1:
Will a short circuit spark ignite hair in a controlled, oxygen rich environment? The result was a little smoke but no ignition.
Scaled Test 2:
Hair cream is rubbed on the hair sample and put into the controlled, oxygen rich environment. The result was a fireball.
Full Scale Setup:
Tory determines cockpit volume by going to the Hiller Aviation Museum where he goes to a US A4, which has an almost identical cockpit set up as the Canadian StarFighter F-104, to take the necessary measurements to determine the volume a cockpit. He recycles the "Sharammer" into the test cockpit.
Grant rigs the "cockpit" so that it duplicates the conditions of an F-104 at 30,000 ft. The vessel will be pressurized to 5psi. Kari creates toupees with hair scraps from a barbershop. A head is created using ballistics gel and the "Adam" mold. They were able to obtain a facemask and helmet that would have been used. Grant determines that the most likely ignition source would have been a short circuit from the 24-volt intercom. He rigs his ignition system to the facemask with a back up of a model rocket igniter.
Take 1:
After 5 minutes of oxygen flow, Grant initiates a spark from the intercom; there is no ignition from the short circuit. Using the back up from the model rocket igniter there is smoke coming out of the mask. Tory initiates the fire extinguisher however it raises the pressure to dangerous levels. The hair ignited causing the ballistics gel head to melt, however there was no explosion.
Take 2:
Facial hair is added to the test pilot. And they utilize the airtight MIG helmet. The first 24 volt short is initiated where the mustache is. Flames quickly engulf the helmet but there is no explosion.
Take 3:
Trying to recreate the results they use only hair care products to try to facilitate an explosive decapitation. The result was ignition and the pressure seal was broken and the windscreen blew out.
Myth Conclusion: Busted. There was no explosion causing decapitation. However part of the myth was plausible. Hair cream, hair and oxygen are flammable.
Myth #3: Surviving in the tale of a plane
Myth: 1/26/1972 a flight attendant, Vesna Vulovic, was on a plane in which a bomb went off and she survived a fall from 33,000 feet without a parachute strapped in to the flight attendant seat in the back of the plane.
Memorable Moments/Quotes:
Jamie (carrying toilet):"Hey Adam, I brought you a present."
Adam: "We're not leaving here without Buster, man! We leave no crash test dummy behind!"
Setup:
Adam, Jamie and Grant strip down a section of a fuselage to try to get it within the weight limit that the chopper can elevate; approximately 3500lbs.
Test:
Buster is wedged into the flight attendant's seat. The chopper lifts the section to raises it to 2,000 feet before dropping it. The fuselage fell at 96mph.
Result: It is plausible that it is survivable. However Buster is busted. They were unable to recreate the exact circumstances of the 1972 crash, which resulted in the fight attendant's survival.
Appendix:
Hiller Aviation Museum: http://www.hiller.org/
Siskorsky S58: http://www.airliners.net/info/stats.main?id=358
F-104 Starfighter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-104_Starfighter
Crash Details 1/26/1972: http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1972/1972-7.htm
Vesna Vulovic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovic
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