Folks, if this story is true, it is a prime example why folks should not
misuse military hardware! Mark M-886
Subject: Jet Assisted Take Off
The Arizona Highway Patrol came upon a pile of smoldering metal embedded
into the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve.
The wreckage resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it was a car.
The type of car was unidentifiable at the scene.
The lab finally figured out what it was and what had happened. It seems
that a guy had somehow gotten hold of a JATO unit (Jet Assisted Take Off
- actually a solid fuel rocket) that is used to give heavy military
transport planes and an extra "push" for taking off from short
airfields. He had driven his Chevy Impala out into the desert and found
a long, straight stretch of road. Then he attached the JATO unit to his
car, jumped in, got up some speed and fired off the JATO!
The facts as best as could be determined are that the operator of the
1967 Impala hit the JATO ignition at a distance of approximately 3.0
miles from the crash site. This was determined by the prominent scorched
and melted asphalt at that location. The JATO, if operating properly,
would have reached maximum thrust within 5 seconds, causing the Chevy to
reach speeds well in excess of 350 miles per hour and continuing full
power for an additional 20-25 seconds. The driver, soon to be pilot,
most likely would have experienced G-forces usually reserved for
dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners, basically causing him
to become insignificant for the remainder of the event.
However, the automobile remained on the straight highway for about 2.5
miles (15-20) seconds before the driver applied and completely melted
the brakes, blowing the tires and leaving thick rubber marks on the road
surface, then becoming airborne for an additional 1.4 miles and
impacting the cliff face at a height of 125 feet leaving a blackened
crater 3 feet deep in the rock.
Most of the driver's remains were not recoverable; however, small
fragments of bone, teeth and hair were extracted from the crater and
fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris
believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.
<><><><>
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Apr 04 2001 - 08:10:48 PDT