Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 20:52:41 GMT Server: NCSA/1.5 Content-type: text/html Last-modified: Fri, 04 Oct 1996 23:18:34 GMT Content-length: 2083 Story of the Month

Story of the Month


		OCTOBER

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Actual radio transcript released by the Chief of Naval Operations
10-10-95.
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Station #1:  Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to
   avoid a collision.
 
Station #2:  Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to South
   to avoid a collision.
 
Station #1:  This is the Captain of a US Navy ship.  I say again,
   divert YOUR course.
 
Station #2:  No.  I say again, you divert YOUR course.
 
Station #1. THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER ENTERPRISE, WE ARE A
   LARGE WARSHIP OF THE US NAVY.  DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!
 
Station #2.  This is the Puget Sound lighthouse.  It's your call.

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		SEPTEMBER

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

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.