Chicken gun

Last updated

The first chicken gun, built in 1942 by the US Civil Aeronautics Administration and the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, being fired at a glass panel. CAA Westinghouse chicken gun fired at glass panel.png
The first chicken gun, built in 1942 by the US Civil Aeronautics Administration and the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, being fired at a glass panel.

A chicken gun or flight impact simulator is a large-diameter, compressed-air gun used to fire bird carcasses at aircraft components in order to simulate high-speed bird strikes during the aircraft's flight. Jet engines and aircraft windshields are particularly vulnerable to damage from such strikes, and are the most common target in such tests. Although various species of bird are used in aircraft testing and certification, the device acquired the common name of "chicken gun" as chickens are the most commonly used 'ammunition' owing to their ready availability.

Contents

Context

Bird strikes are a significant hazard to flight safety, particularly around takeoff and landing where crew workload is highest and there is scant time for recovery before a potential impact with the ground. The speeds involved in a collision between a jet aircraft and a bird can be considerable –often around 350 km/h (220 mph) –resulting in a large transfer of kinetic energy. A bird colliding with an aircraft windshield could penetrate or shatter it, injuring the flight crew or impairing their ability to see. At high altitudes such an event could cause uncontrolled decompression. A bird ingested by a jet engine can break the engine's compressor blades, potentially causing catastrophic damage. [1]

Multiple measures are used to prevent bird strikes, such as the use of deterrent systems at airports to prevent birds from gathering, population control using birds of prey or firearms, and recently avian radar systems that track flocks of birds and give warnings to pilots and air traffic controllers. [2] [3]

Despite this, the risk of bird strikes is impossible to eliminate and therefore most government certification authorities such as the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency require that aircraft engines and airframes be resilient against bird strikes to a certain degree as part of the airworthiness certification process. In general, an engine should not suffer an uncontained failure (an event where rotating parts are ejected from the engine casing) after impact with a suitably-sized bird, and a bird strike to the airframe of a craft should not prevent "continued safe flight [and a] normal landing". [4]

History

The first recorded chicken gun was built in 1942 by the US Civil Aeronautics Administration in collaboration with the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. Built at Westinghouse's High Power Laboratory in Pittsburgh, it was capable of firing bird carcasses at up to 400 miles per hour (640 km/h), although most tests were conducted with muzzle velocities around 270 miles per hour (430 km/h). The gun used compressed air as its propellant, with a compressor storing air into an accumulator until the desired pressure was reached. To fire the gun, an operator triggered the opening of an electric quick-release valve, dumping the compressed air into the barrel. Different muzzle velocities were achieved by varying the pressure stored in the accumulator. [5]

The tests conducted with this gun were the first of their kind, and showed that the glass used in the windshields of common passenger aircraft such as the Douglas DC-3 was extremely vulnerable to bird strikes; panels were penetrated completely by a 4-pound (1.8 kg) bird traveling at only 75 miles per hour (121 km/h). Subsequent testing showed that laminate panels made of glass interleaved with polyvinyl chloride were far more resistant. [5]

The gun was used at the High Power Laboratory until November 1943. In early 1945, it was moved to a CAA research & development location in Indianapolis, called the Indianapolis Experimental Station, where it was used to test components for various commercial aircraft manufacturers, [6] before being retired at some point in 1947. [7] A similar gun was independently developed by the De Havilland Aircraft Company in the United Kingdom in the mid-1950s. [8] The UK's Royal Aircraft Establishment built a chicken gun in 1961, and in 1967 the Canadian National Research Council's Division of Mechanical Engineering used the RAE's design as a basis for their "Flight Impact Simulator Facility", a pneumatic gun based next to Ottawa airport. [9] This gun remained in frequent use until 2016, at which point it was donated to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum and replaced by a pair of more modern guns. The replacements can accommodate different sized birds more easily through the use of a modular barrel. [10] In the 1970s, Goodyear Aerospace developed a chicken gun that stored compressed air behind a ceramic diaphragm and used a cardboard sabot to center and stabilize the chicken. When fired, a needle struck the diaphragm, rupturing the seal and allowing the air to propel the projectile down the barrel. A metal ring on the muzzle stopped the sabot, but allowed the chicken to escape the barrel. [11]

The United States Air Force built the AEDC Ballistic Range S-3 at Arnold Engineering Development Complex in 1972 to test the canopies and windshields of military aircraft. Like previous chicken guns, S-3 used compressed air to launch its projectiles. [12] The gun was later used in the development and certification of multiple US military aircraft, including the F-4, F-111 and A-10. [13] As of 2007 the gun was still in operation. [14]

Use in aircraft certification

A 10-inch (25 cm) smoothbore chicken gun used by Canadian aerospace firms to test components at the Flight Impact Simulator Facility in Ottawa, photographed here in storage at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum at some point after 2016. Fairey Canada Flight Impact Simulator at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.png
A 10-inch (25 cm) smoothbore chicken gun used by Canadian aerospace firms to test components at the Flight Impact Simulator Facility in Ottawa, photographed here in storage at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum at some point after 2016.

Chicken guns are routinely used in the process of proving compliance with certification regulations. Given their complexity and the expertise required to operate them, an aircraft manufacturer will typically contract with a facility that operates a gun to perform a test against a given standard. [10] [15] The component to be tested is mounted securely on a frame, the gun fires a bird at it, and the results are examined for compliance with the relevant standards. [16] Most tests are performed with the gun pressurized to around 35 psi (2.4 bar) –this results in a four-pound (1.8 kg) bird being launched at around 350 miles per hour (560 km/h), approximately the resultant velocity in a collision between a bird and an aircraft. [9]

The FAA do not specify the species of bird that should be used for testing, but do state that the birds should not be frozen, as this would not accurately reflect the reality of a strike. Chickens are used as they are cheap, and readily available. [16]

There have been efforts to develop artificial bird analogs for use in impact tests, to replace the use of carcasses. The motivations for this range from ensuring that results are easily reproducible across the industry, cost, and sensitivity to the views of animal rights activists. [17] [18] However, concerns have been expressed by some engineers that tests with artificial birds do not accurately represent the forces involved in real bird strikes as the analogs lack bones. Some go further and state that the farm-raised birds commonly used in tests are also unrepresentative owing to the lower density of their muscle tissue. [16] [19]

Notable uses

During the development of the Boeing 757 in the 1970s, the cockpit roof was subjected to a bird strike test wherein a 4-pound (1.8 kg) chicken was fired at 360 knots (410 mph; 670 km/h) into a stationary cockpit. To the surprise of the Boeing engineers, the chicken penetrated the skin of the aircraft. As a result the cockpit of the 757, and that of the 767 which shared the same design, had to be reinforced. Several 767s were already in service, and had to be recalled for retrofitting of the reinforcements. Later in the 757's development process a bird strike test was conducted on the aircraft's windows, again by firing a chicken at them. The UK Civil Aviation Authority's certification requirements at the time were more stringent than the FAA's, and required the metal around the windows to also resist a bird strike. The 757 failed this test, requiring further re-engineering. [20]

After the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, the chicken gun at AEDC Ballistic Range S-3 was repurposed to test the resistance of various components of the Shuttle orbiter and launch fuel tanks to impacts from insulating foam. [21] The intent was to discover the exact cause of the disaster, and establish whether any modifications to the Shuttle were required. [22]

The comedy series Royal Canadian Air Farce has a recurring skit in which a "chicken cannon" is used to fire various objects, originally including a rubber chicken, at a picture of a well-known person, often a politician.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing 757</span> Airliner family by Boeing

The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the trijet 727, received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its maiden flight on February 19, 1982, and it was FAA certified on December 21, 1982. Eastern Air Lines placed the initial 757-200 variant in commercial service on January 1, 1983. A package freighter (PF) variant entered service in September 1987 and a combi model in September 1988. The stretched 757-300 was launched in September 1996 and began service in March 1999. After 1,050 had been built for 54 customers, production ended in October 2004, while Boeing offered the largest 737 NG variants as a successor to the -200.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing 787 Dreamliner</span> Boeing wide-body jet airliner introduced in 2011

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, which focused largely on efficiency. The program was launched on April 26, 2004, with an order for 50 aircraft from All Nippon Airways (ANA), targeting a 2008 introduction. On July 8, 2007, a prototype 787 without major operating systems was rolled out; subsequently the aircraft experienced multiple delays, until its maiden flight on December 15, 2009. Type certification was received in August 2011, and the first 787-8 was delivered in September 2011 before entering commercial service on October 26, 2011, with ANA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armstrong Flight Research Center</span> United States aerospace research facility

The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California and is considered NASA's premier site for aeronautical research. AFRC operates some of the most advanced aircraft in the world and is known for many aviation firsts, including supporting the first crewed airplane to exceed the speed of sound in level flight, highest speed by a crewed, powered aircraft, the first pure digital fly-by-wire aircraft, and many others. AFRC operates a second site next to Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, known as Building 703, once the former Rockwell International/North American Aviation production facility. There, AFRC houses and operates several of NASA's Science Mission Directorate aircraft including SOFIA, a DC-8 Flying Laboratory, a Gulfstream C-20A UAVSAR and ER-2 High Altitude Platform. As of 2023, Bradley Flick is the center's director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviation safety</span> State in which risks associated with aviation are at an acceptable level

Aviation safety is the study and practice of managing risks in aviation. This includes preventing aviation accidents and incidents through research, educating air travel personnel, passengers and the general public, as well as the design of aircraft and aviation infrastructure. The aviation industry is subject to significant regulation and oversight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign object damage</span> Damage to aircraft by objects

In aviation and aerospace, the term foreign object damage (FOD) refers to any damage to an aircraft attributed to foreign object debris (also referred to as "FOD"), which is any particle or substance, alien to an aircraft or system which could potentially cause damage to it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bird strike</span> Collision between an aircraft and a bird

A bird strike is a collision between an airborne animal and a moving vehicle. The term is also used for bird deaths resulting from collisions with structures, such as power lines, towers and wind turbines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airplane</span> Powered aircraft with wings

An airplane or aeroplane, informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research. Worldwide, commercial aviation transports more than four billion passengers annually on airliners and transports more than 200 billion tonne-kilometers of cargo annually, which is less than 1% of the world's cargo movement. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled such as drones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eclipse 500</span> Very light business jet

The Eclipse 500 is a very light jet (VLJ) originally produced by Eclipse Aviation of Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. The company was founded in 1998 to develop the 1997 Williams V-Jet II demonstrator. The prototype first flew with Williams EJ22 turbofans on August 26, 2002. The engines were replaced by Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610Fs in 2004 and Eclipse Aviation won the Collier Trophy in February 2006 for the design. A provisional FAA type certification was received on 27 July 2006 and the first delivery occurred on 31 December 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beriev Be-200</span> Multipurpose amphibious aircraft

The Beriev Be-200 Altair is a jet-powered amphibious flying boat of utility type designed and built by the Beriev Aircraft Company. Marketed as being designed for fire fighting, search and rescue, maritime patrol, cargo, and passenger transportation, it has a capacity of 12,000 litres (3,200 US gal) of water, or up to 72 passengers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnold Air Force Base</span> US Air Force base near Tullahoma, Tennessee, United States

Arnold Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Coffee and Franklin counties, Tennessee, adjacent to the city of Tullahoma. It is named for General Henry "Hap" Arnold, the father of the U.S. Air Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Air Lines Flight 297</span> 1962 aviation accident

United Air Lines Flight 297 was a scheduled flight from Newark International Airport to Atlanta that crashed 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Baltimore on November 23, 1962, killing all 17 people on board. An investigation concluded that the aircraft, a Vickers Viscount 745D turboprop airliner, had struck at least two whistling swans, which caused severe damage to the plane, resulting in a loss of control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1</span> Experimental WW2-era Soviet rocket-powered interceptor

The Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 was a Soviet short-range rocket-powered interceptor developed during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SNCASO SO.1221 Djinn</span> Type of aircraft

The Sud-Ouest SO.1221 Djinn is a French two-seat light helicopter designed and manufactured by aircraft manufacturer Sud-Ouest (SNCASO), which was later merged into Sud Aviation. It was the first production French helicopter, as well as being one of the first practical European helicopters to be produced. The Djinn was also the first rotorcraft to harness tip-jet propulsion to enter production, and the first production turbine powered helicopter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">US Airways Flight 1549</span> 2009 aircraft ditching in the Hudson River, New York City

US Airways Flight 1549 was a regularly scheduled US Airways flight from New York City's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte and Seattle, in the United States. On January 15, 2009, the Airbus A320 serving the flight struck a flock of birds shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia, losing all engine power. Given their position in relation to the available airports and their low altitude, pilots Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles decided to glide the plane to ditching on the Hudson River near Midtown Manhattan. All 155 people on board were rescued by nearby boats. There were no fatalities, although 100 people were injured, 5 of them seriously. The time from the bird strike to the ditching was less than four minutes.

AEDC Ballistic Range S-3 is a single stage air gun owned by the United States Air Force. The gun is commonly used for bird strike testing and is often called a chicken gun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1973 DeKalb–Peachtree Airport Learjet crash</span> Aviation accident in Georgia, United States

On February 26, 1973, a private Learjet 24 crashed shortly after take-off from DeKalb–Peachtree Airport in Chamblee, Georgia, United States. The aircraft, registration N454RN, owned by a private corporation, struck birds shortly after lifting off. Air traffic control advised the flight crew of smoke trailing from their left engine; the crew said they would not be able to return to the airport. The aircraft impacted the roof of an apartment building and came to rest in a ravine. All five passengers and two crew members aboard the aircraft were killed; a person in the apartment building suffered severe burns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airbus A320neo family</span> Airliner family, series of improvements across the A320 family

The Airbus A320neo family is an incremental development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family is based on the enhanced variant of the previous generation A319, A320, and A321, which was then retrospectively renamed the A320ceo family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Testbed aircraft</span> Aircraft used for research or testing purposes

A testbed aircraft is an aeroplane, helicopter or other kind of aircraft intended for flight research or testing the aircraft concepts or on-board equipment. These could be specially designed or modified from serial production aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalitta Air Flight 207</span> 2008 Aviation accident

Kalitta Air Flight 207 (K4207/CKS207) was a scheduled cargo flight between John F. Kennedy Airport to Bahrain International Airport with a technical stopover at Brussels. On May 25, 2008, the Boeing 747-200 suffered a bird strike and overran runway 20 during takeoff at Brussels Airport, causing the aircraft to split into three large pieces. The occupants sustained minor injuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overseas National Airways Flight 032</span> 1975 DC-10 accident

Overseas National Airways (ONA) Flight 032 was a non-scheduled positioning flight operated by Overseas National Airways with a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CF. On November 12, 1975, the flight crew initiated a rejected takeoff after accelerating through a large flock of gulls at John F. Kennedy International Airport, resulting in a runway excursion. Of the 139 aircraft occupants, all survived, while the aircraft was destroyed by an intense post-crash fire. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the probable cause of the accident was bird ingestion into the right-hand engine, causing an uncontained engine failure that ruptured several landing gear tires and disabled the engine's hydraulic system, in turn partially disabling the spoilers and the landing gear brakes. Contributing to the accident was the resultant failure of the affected engine's thrust reverser and the wet runway. The accident aircraft is claimed to be the largest commercial airliner ever destroyed due to a bird strike.

References

  1. ↑ Sodhi, Navjot S. (2002). "Competition in the air: birds versus aircraft". The Auk. 119 (3): 587–595. doi: 10.1642/0004-8038(2002)119[0587:CITABV]2.0.CO;2 .
  2. ↑ Devault, Travis L.; Blackwell, Bradley F.; Belant, Jerrold L., eds. (November 15, 2013). Wildlife in Airport Environments: Preventing Animal–Aircraft Collisions through Science-Based Management. JHU Press. ISBN   9781421410838.
  3. ↑ Beason, Robert C.; et al. (Spring 2013). "Beware the Boojum: caveats and strengths of avian radar" (PDF). Human–Wildlife Interactions. 7 (1). doi:10.26077/0fvy-6k61. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Aircraft Certification for Bird Strike Risk - SKYbrary Aviation Safety". skybrary.aero. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  5. 1 2 Morse, A. L. (July 1943). "Bird-proof windshields". Flying Magazine. pp. 40–42. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  6. ↑ Fortier, Rénald (July 3, 2018). "I want to know what snarge is, I want you to show me, or not | The Channel". ingeniumcanada.org. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  7. ↑ Kangas, Pell; George L. Pigman (February 1950). Development of Aircraft Windshields to Resist Impact with Birds in Flight Part II (Technical report). Civil Aeronautics Administration. 74. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  8. ↑ El-Sayed, Ahmed F. (2019). Bird strike in aviation : statistics, analysis and management. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons. p. 269. ISBN   9781119529736.
  9. 1 2 "It's a Bird, It's a Plane... It's a Bird Striking a Plane". National Research Council of Canada. January 7, 2007. Archived from the original on June 22, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2009.
  10. 1 2 Muenz, Rachel (November 10, 2016). "The National Research Council of Canada's Bird Guns Ensure Safe Air Travel". Lab Manager. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  11. ↑ Pochiraju, Kishore V.; Tandon, Gyaneshwar P.; Schoeppner, Gregory A. (2012). Long-term durability of polymeric matrix composites. New York: Springer. p. 160. ISBN   9781441993076 . Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  12. ↑ Caletrello, Stephan (August 1, 2005). "Something to crow about: Rooster Booster proves old-fashioned ingenuity needn't be high-tech". The Free Library. Farlex. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  13. ↑ Centonze, V.; Schmoeker, N. (April 2, 1986). "Bird impact testing at AEDC's range S-3". 3rd Flight Testing Conference and Technical Display. doi:10.2514/6.1986-9818. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Arnold AFB test facilities capabilities, including range S3, Bird Impact Range" (PDF). Arnold Air Force Base . Archived from the original (PDF) on February 8, 2007. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
  15. ↑ Moskvitch, Katia (March 19, 2014). "The extreme tests planes go through before taking off". bbc.com. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  16. 1 2 3 Downer, John (January 2009). "Epistemological Chicken: What do we learn from aircraft 'bird-ingestion' tests?" (PDF). London School of Economics. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  17. ↑ Budgey, Richard (April 2000). The development of a substitute artificial bird by the international Bird strike Research Group for use in aircraft component testing. International Bird Strike Committee ISBC25/WP-IE3.
  18. ↑ Mikkelson, Barbara (July 22, 2001). "The Chicken Cannon". Snopes.com. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  19. ↑ Langewiesche, William (May 5, 2009). "US Airways Flight 1549: Anatomy of a Miracle". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  20. ↑ Rinearson, Peter (June 21, 1983). "Designing the 757". Seattle Times . Archived from the original on April 30, 2019. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  21. ↑ Knight, Will (March 14, 2003). "New clues to plasma's flow into shuttle". New Scientist. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  22. ↑ Barton, Tina (September 2, 2004). "Center's 'chicken gun' helps shuttle return to flight". U.S. Air Force. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.