Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 12:04:01 -0500 (EST)
From: Francoise Coeur-de-Divan
Subject: BLAGUES-L: Chicken Launcher


Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 12:03:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: Philippe Reid


(from soc.culture.british)

In a recent issue of Meat & Poultry magazine, editors quoted from
"Feathers," the publication of the California Poultry Industry Federation,
telling the following story: 

It seems the U.S. 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 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: Don't use
frozen chicken.