The Rooster Booster

The FAA has a device for testing the strength of windshields on airplanes..

[bakedjake]

[home.xnet.com...]

The use of a sabot is interesting. Without it, it would be difficult to accelerate the chicken to a high speed with compressed gas. Chickens, being irregularly shaped objects, would not form a good enough seal without a sabot. It is difficult to imagine how a frozen chicken could be stuffed into a tube or sabot without someone noticing that the chicken is frozen.

Just a little Friday fun. I came across this article and couldn't stop laughing.

[mivox]

Too bad two of his reference links to "real" chicken cannon stories were 404, and one of the remaining two led to a story about poultry being dropped into a wind tunnel... So I went and checked Snopes.com [snopes.com].

Indeed, shooting poultry at test engines is an established practice, and apparently frozen birds have been used in such tests... only they were used intentionally (!):

...before switching to fake birds, the U.S. Air Force traditionally launched frozen ones. (...) The way the Air Force had it figured, if a canopy could survive an impact with a frozen bird, it would certainly live through a chance introduction to one that could still fly under its own power.

[rcjordan]

Somewhat related:

The Aludium Q36 Pumpkin Modulator

Ponder this: Will a pumpkin, as it nears the speed of sound, turn into pie in the sky?

[mit.edu...] (from WSJ article)

I am going to this event! Maybe this year.

Pix: [greenshade.com...]

<added>
Hmmm... SpamCon venue?