Subject: Rolls-Royce Jet engine bird test
Scary stuff, best if you read the text first.
How to blow several million dollars in seconds Attached is video of an RR Trent 900 engine on a test stand undergoing a 'Bird Ingestion' test.
This test is accomplished by firing a bird, {generally a dead chicken complete with feathers and internal organs} at the engine. This test
is considered a success if the failure was completely contained, {i.e. No engine parts penetrated the engine cases or the aircraft cowling and there is no sustained external fire}.
It does not take long for the engine to digest the bird as well as a significant number of its own blades & vanes. The video lasts 33 seconds and the bird is fired into the engine at the 17 second mark.
Now you have some idea what the pilot of the US Air A. 320 flight on January 15, 2009 faced when he ingested birds into both engines simultaneously and made a perfect ditching in the Hudson river !
It also gives you a fair idea why the one engine's mount failed after the water landing and dropped off the wing!
alien8 ·