🚀 go-pugleaf

Dweezil Dwarftosser wrote:
> 
> If you're like me, you watched quite a bit of the news
> coverage about the masterful airliner ditching in the
> Hudson.  The news folks did a great job of their LIVE
> coverage, as the plane and the flotilla of rescuers
> drifted down the river.
> 
> But they should have stopped there - because every one
> of the Propaganda Ministry's TV news outlets spouted the
> same foolishness concerning birdstrikes.
> 
> All of them said the same ignorant lie: "Jet engines are
> designed to just harmlessly eat up small birds" - which is
> patently untrue.  They add "- but a ten-pound goose can do
> some real damage".   A goose, duck, or seagull can knock a
> 747 clean out of the air, depending upon where it hits -
> but so can a sparrow.
> 
> I've seen the aftermath of many, many birdstrikes (particularly
> so in Florida, where we averaged 10 or more per year in a place
> much like Laguardia: a runway jutting out from a peninsula
> containing nesting areas for many types of bird).
> 
> Even sparrows damage (and sometimes dislodge) engine compressor
> blades.  When that happens, it's all over for that engine.
> (Just FYI - if ANY bird is sucked into an engine during takeoff
> - or to a lesser extent, during a landing - the engine is a goner.)
> 
> The only exception to the news mistakes was the infotainment "Inside
> Edition" show, which stated the problem correctly, and even showed
> some Pratt & Whitney slow-motion film of turbine blades coming
> apart when hit by sparrows.  The chain-reaction follows; one blade
> from the first stage tears up a couple more in the second stage,
> etc. - until the thing ceases to function - or throws a blade right
> through the engine casing.
> 
> Even worse: a bird hitting the windscreen - and decapitating the
> driver.
> 
> Fortunately, most of the guys flying these things are real pros,
> like "Sully"; they know what to do, and do so exceptional well.
> 
> - Dweez, former Prod. Super (line chief), 512th Tactical Fighter
>     Squadron, and Quality Assurance Inspector, 50th Tac Fighter
>     Wing; 86th Tac Fighter Wing.  (All F-4E Phantom units.)

What about tossing a dwarf into the engine?

"The place, boss! The place! Noooohhh!"