I feel like this thread has turned into a good excuse to trot out one of my favorite jet engine videos. It is a short video of the GE90 turbofan engine going through some of its certification testing. This includes eating 4.5 tons per minute of water, 0.75T/min of hail being fired at it to simulate operating speeds, and the ever-popular large bird ingestion test! Turbine engines of all sorts (turbojets, turbofans, turboprops, etc.) are actually pretty good at eating all sorts of stuff and still running.



- Bret

back during the cootie times, I sold a shitton of ammo on gunbroker and a lot went to a guy in Louisiana,

chatting with him on the phone one day, he told me he flew the hurricane chasing planes, and seemed to love it,


no idea what plane he was in, but he said he was completely safe, or at least felt safe,

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:

chatting with him on the phone one day, he told me he flew the hurricane chasing planes, and seemed to love it,


no idea what plane he was in, but he said he was completely safe, or at least felt safe,

Aerodynamically, yeah one can determine that the airplane won't break apart or even depart controlled flight. But the spine takes a lot of abuse in turbulence over time. I expect everyone on those flights end up with back problems.

One of the very best aspects of being a pilot is the fantastic sights. With the large windows up front the view is great, and you see things that can never be seen from the ground or even from a passenger window. The things the hurricane hunters see must be incredible!