Humor Random Comments Thread

[Notebook]

North Korea could always ask Australia to use their test site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_nuclear_tests_at_Maralinga

We did, and I think we got away with it.

N.

 

[Fabri91]

Italian Eurofighter Typhoon Crashes During Terracina Airshow Killing Test Pilot.

 

[Urwumpe]

Italian Eurofighter Typhoon Crashes During Terracina Airshow Killing Test Pilot.

Anything known what went wrong there? The videos look like he was getting far too low at the end of the looping, making it a sad pilot error.

 

[Andy44]

I have always loved airshows. But videos like those make me take pause.

I went to an airshow in Delaware about 10 years ago at a smaller airfield. No big jet fighters; this was more of a cropduster and barnstorming kind of show. A few WWII warbirds were the biggest things there.

There was one act that consisted of a farmer stealing a Piper Cub and flying it like an idiot. He was mowing the grass next to the runway when the Piper Cub rolls up and the announcer starts yelling at "Farmer Joe" that he is not supposed to be mowing today due to the airshow, and Farmer Joe gets angry and steals the plane. The farmer, of course, was the real stunt pilot and this was all part of the act. He proceeds to put the aircraft through a bunch of crazy maneuvers, several of which less than a wingspan above the ground. At one point he dipped down behind a nearby hill and vanished from sight just as the airfield fired a signal cannon to "shoot him down". When I heard the bang, for a moment, I thought he had hit something beyond the hill.

That made me think. I've seen lots of airshows, and a lot of near misses. Once when I was little I saw a plane clip a power line in the distance. Nobody got hurt and the plane landed safely at the end of his routine. But that could've ended much worse.

The day before, at that same airshow, a ten year old boy climbed into the cockpit of a Navy jet that was on display, and because some idiot forgot to disarm the ejection seat, shot himself through the canopy into the sky and down onto the pavement. He later died from his injuries IIRC.

Aviation is serious business folks. Always remember that.

 

[Urwumpe]

The day before, at that same airshow, a ten year old boy climbed into the cockpit of a Navy jet that was on display, and because some idiot forgot to disarm the ejection seat, shot himself through the canopy into the sky and down onto the pavement. He later died from his injuries IIRC.

Isn't it the duty of the pilot in US aircraft to install the safety pins before leaving the aircraft behind? :facepalm:

(For british aircraft, this is the duty of your page)

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Isn't it the duty of the pilot in US aircraft to install the safety pins before leaving the aircraft behind? :facepalm:

(For british aircraft, this is the duty of your page)

On the ACES II there is a seat safety lever on the left hand pull that the pilot would disengage after engine start and apply after shutdown. That lever and the seat release handle would also be pinned by the crew chief after landing.

Old Martin Baker seats were notorious for launching people through hangar roofs. F-4s and other Navy aircraft used them mostly. I only worked on them in tech school so my memory is fuzzy, but they were somewhat complicated to safe and had the overhead handles that were easy to snag.

---------- Post added at 07:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:16 PM ----------

There was one act that consisted of a farmer stealing a Piper Cub and flying it like an idiot. He was mowing the grass next to the runway when the Piper Cub rolls up and the announcer starts yelling at "Farmer Joe" that he is not supposed to be mowing today due to the airshow, and Farmer Joe gets angry and steals the plane. The farmer, of course, was the real stunt pilot and this was all part of the act. He proceeds to put the aircraft through a bunch of crazy maneuvers, several of which less than a wingspan above the ground. At one point he dipped down behind a nearby hill and vanished from sight just as the airfield fired a signal cannon to "shoot him down". When I heard the bang, for a moment, I thought he had hit something beyond the hill.

A pretty good bit of flying actually.

 

[Andy44]

Isn't it the duty of the pilot in US aircraft to install the safety pins before leaving the aircraft behind? :facepalm:

(For british aircraft, this is the duty of your page)

I don't know. But I imagine that an aircraft put on display with the intention of letting kids crawl around inside should've had all the pyro stuff removed above and beyond simply parking it after flight.

This was a long time ago, probably early 80s or late 70s; I remember my dad talking about it the day before, and when we got to the airfield the airplane in question was parked far away from the crowd, with a tarp over the cockpit. It happened at Willow Grove Naval Air Station near Philadelphia.

Found it: http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1980/07/05/page/20/article/freak-plane-accident-hurts-boy-7

According to that article the boy was still alive; I'm pretty sure I remember he died within a few days of the accident. Being launched out of a cockpit by an ejection seat is an incredibly violent event, especially considering he likely wasn't strapped in and was quite a but smaller and lighter than the average pilot.

---------- Post added at 07:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 PM ----------

BTW reading that newspaper scan from 1980 is an amazing time capsule!

Also, I found a blurb about the incident on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...ts_involving_military_aircraft_(1980–89)#1980

4 July A seven-year-old boy is killed and several others are injured when he manages to fire an ejection seat in Lockheed S-3A Viking, BuNo 159769, c/n 394A-1098, of VS-24, at NAS Willow Grove, Pennsylvania during an open house.[

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I don't know. But I imagine that an aircraft put on display with the intention of letting kids crawl around inside should've had all the pyro stuff removed above and beyond simply parking it after flight.

Well heck, back then we were just getting used to the idea that seat belts in cars might be a good idea.

I think the S-3 used Douglas Escapac seats. They might have had a safing lever but I'm not sure backup safety pins were a thing back then. They pretty much assumed that anyone in the cockpit would either A) really want to use the ejection seat or B) would know to apply the safing lever. A kid in the cockpit was a bad idea.

 

[Andy44]

Well heck, back then we were just getting used to the idea that seat belts in cars might be a good idea.

They are? :lol:

---------- Post added at 09:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:36 PM ----------

I wish there was more info. If the plane was on display and the kid was crawling around inside I'd imagine there would be people standing nearby, his dad and maybe a sailor or two, and you'd think they would've gotten burned or hit by debris from the ejection seat when it fired, but there's nothing in any news source to indicate that.

It was one of those things that seemed like a big deal in the local area at the time but has since been forgotten.

 

[Urwumpe]

I don't know. But I imagine that an aircraft put on display with the intention of letting kids crawl around inside should've had all the pyro stuff removed above and beyond simply parking it after flight.

Well, I remember that additionally to the levers, there is a simple pin that is inserted into the igniter of the seat belt to prevent it from firing by accident. If I remember correctly, the ACES had such a pin at the safety lever to prevent it from being pushed own by accident (like somebody climbing on the seat)

---------- Post added at 08:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:39 AM ----------

I wish there was more info. If the plane was on display and the kid was crawling around inside I'd imagine there would be people standing nearby, his dad and maybe a sailor or two, and you'd think they would've gotten burned or hit by debris from the ejection seat when it fired, but there's nothing in any news source to indicate that.

The source of the wikipedia list also mentions that bystanders got injured, possibly other people inside the S-3A.

The biggest issue of the child should be that it is far lighter and smaller than the minimum pilot for an ejection seat, so the CoG should be far off what can be compensated by the stabilization system.

Ah yes... and of course, the S-3A has a four person crew with escape seats, so more seats that could have been used by the boy.

---------- Post added at 08:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:45 AM ----------

BTW, about how the seats on a S-3A had been safed:

The seats are of fairly simple construction as the shell does not have a main beam assembly. The seat is attached to the rails via a set of rollers along the rear sides of the seat. To safety the seat a single handle is pulled out of the center of the headrest (its nickname is the 'headnocker'). This locks both the primary and secondary handles. Safety pins are also used by the ground crew. Most Escapacs have either fixed or mechanically activated canopy breakers to shatter the transparency prior to the crewmans helmet striking it. The parachute pack is a rigid framed pack with an internal delay system actuated by a static line attached to the seat on the right side. This static line is released if the manual harness release handle is pulled. The seatpan survival kit is a hard pack with internal emergency Oxygen bottle. A round hole in the front right of the seat cushion normally provides a view of the gauge to verify it is full prior to flight.

So, forget what I wrote above... but such a small handle is of course easily missed during a check. I could even imagine the boy pushing the annoying handle back up himself.

 

[jedidia]

UI-coding in Angular2+: :woohoo:
Routing in Angular2+: :beathead:

 

[Urwumpe]

Soo, my car passed its first technical inspection with flying flags. No big surprise, but an unknown feeling for me - the last technical inspection in my life consisted of praying that nothing expensive broke on my old car.

 

[Linguofreak]

Soo, my car passed its first technical inspection with flying flags. No big surprise, but an unknown feeling for me - the last technical inspection in my life consisted of praying that nothing expensive broke on my old car.

My second-last inspection resulted in the car that had served me through the first decade of my adult life failing emissions. When I took it in to get that fixed, they found a list of issues that would have taken several times the value of the car to fix. My last inspection was my first inspection for the replacement.

 

[Fabri91]

Anything known what went wrong there? The videos look like he was getting far too low at the end of the looping, making it a sad pilot error.

No idea. It's too early for any definitive conclusions. Best guess from my side is exactly the same as yours, namely a very unfortunate error.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

The biggest issue of the child should be that it is far lighter and smaller than the minimum pilot for an ejection seat, so the CoG should be far off what can be compensated by the stabilization system.

Assuming the kid was seated and strapped in, which he probably wasn't. The safing lever on that seat appears to be at the base of the head rest. I could easily see a kid standing on the seat tinkering with it, then pulling the overhead handles.

Ah yes... and of course, the S-3A has a four person crew with escape seats, so more seats that could have been used by the boy.

I don't know about the S-3, but most multi-crew aircraft with seats have sequencers that initiate ejection of the entire crew if one pulls the handles. They generally want the aft crewmembers out first so the aft crewmembers don't get a face-full of sustainer rocket from the front seats.

 

[Andy44]

Found it: http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1980/07/05/page/20/article/freak-plane-accident-hurts-boy-7

In keeping with the random comments theme of this thread, I want to revisit this old newspaper clip I found while looking for the story about the boy killed by the S3 ejection seat. It amazes me that such a vivid event is so hard to find info on, but I have noticed this about a lot of pre-internet news stories. They become so obscure that it's almost as if it never happened. If this accident happened today at an airshow, there'd be a Wikipedia page for it within hours.

When I was very young in the 1970s, an oil tanker exploded and burned in the Delaware River near Philadelphia. It was an enormous blast, it shook our house miles away. Nearby buildings in Delaware were damaged, with windows blown out. Two ships were involved in the accident. A huge oil spill, miles long and burning furiously flowed up river in the tide. I remember seeing it on the local news with my dad. One of the ships' steel deck was actually flipped up and draped over the side of the hull like a blanket hanging off a bed. The fire burned for many days. I'll never forget that image.

A couple of years ago I was trying to recall this to some people at work and googled it. I could find almost nothing about it. After lots of digging I found an old newspaper scan about it. Later, I found a scan of a typewritten Coast Guard investigation report (very interesting), and now I see this page.

The tanker was called the Corinthos. The ship that collided with it was called the Queeny and according to that link, a third ship, a US Navy destroyer (name unknown) up river was burned by the oil slick.

It's eerie to me that this huge event is almost completely forgotten. Even when I go back to the Philly/South Jersey area, it's hard to find people who remember it or have heard of it. Pre-internet history is a hazy, murky zone, where significant events can be almost erased from reality.

I love that stuff. Maybe I should start a thread?

---------- Post added at 10:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:10 PM ----------

ETA: found that USCG report: www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a049807.pdf

 

[Thunder Chicken]

When I was very young in the 1970s, an oil tanker exploded and burned in the Delaware River near Philadelphia. It was an enormous blast, it shook our house miles away. Nearby buildings in Delaware were damaged, with windows blown out. Two ships were involved in the accident. A huge oil spill, miles long and burning furiously flowed up river in the tide. I remember seeing it on the local news with my dad. One of the ships' steel deck was actually flipped up and draped over the side of the hull like a blanket hanging off a bed. The fire burned for many days. I'll never forget that image.

In 1973 there was the

collision under the Verrazano Narrows bridge in NY. Sea Witch lost steering (due to a cotter pin falling out of the steering control) and it rammed the Esso Brussels. Big fire right under the bridge. This is fairly well documented as the USCG afterwards required all vessels to do a steering gear test before entering and departing a harbor.

I love that stuff. Maybe I should start a thread?

Yeah, there is all sorts of arcane history that simply didn't get recorded. In my hometown in W. Massachusetts in the early 1980s an owner of a local seafood shop tried to commit insurance fraud by leaving gas on in the store over the weekend, leaving town, and then calling the store to ignite the gas. I remember sitting in my living room and feeling the whole house shake followed by the sound of the blast several seconds later. Did a lot of damage and sent many a lobster to a fiery demise, but there is hardly any record of it.

 

[Andy44]

Yeah, there is all sorts of arcane history that simply didn't get recorded. In my hometown in W. Massachusetts in the early 1980s an owner of a local seafood shop tried to commit insurance fraud by leaving gas on in the store over the weekend, leaving town, and then calling the store to ignite the gas. I remember sitting in my living room and feeling the whole house shake followed by the sound of the blast several seconds later. Did a lot of damage and sent many a lobster to a fiery demise, but there is hardly any record of it.

You know, I think that method of causing a gas explosion was a plot device in one of those old crime shows like Hawaii 5-0 or Hart to Hart. I remember as a little kid wondering if you could actually do that with a telephone, especially the old kind with the electromechanical bell.

 

[Urwumpe]

Yeah, there is all sorts of arcane history that simply didn't get recorded.

Or did get recorded but is today so unbelievable that you really need to pull out the news article... like the Rolling Stones playing a concert in Wolfsburg on one of the biggest parking lots of Volkswagen in front of 90000 spectators...

Today, the location is the "Autostadt" theme park of Volkswagen, you could not even visualize this when you are at the location. Its just a single line in Wikipedia, without even mentioning that this had been a once in history event.

A few years later, we had Bon Jovi play open air at a "nice picknick at the lake" at the Allersee lake ... somewhat more believable, but still many think you must be kidding.

The 90s had been so epic...

 

[Thunder Chicken]

You know, I think that method of causing a gas explosion was a plot device in one of those old crime shows like Hawaii 5-0 or Hart to Hart. I remember as a little kid wondering if you could actually do that with a telephone, especially the old kind with the electromechanical bell.

Yep, it quite definitely worked. Only that the guy was an idiot and called from his other residence (somewhere south, maybe FL). The insurance fraud became self-evident when they examined the phone records. He should have used a pay phone.