[RocketsNW] A Genius Rocket Scientist

[Paul Bogdanich]

Now, the winner of this year's Darwin Award (awarded, unfortunately, as 
always, posthumously)

The Arizona Highway Patrol came upon a pile of smoldering metal embedded in 
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. Police investigators finally 
pieced together the mystery crash.  An amateur rocket scientist  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 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. He attached 
the JATO unit to the 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 established by the 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 mph and 
continuing at full power for an additional 20-25 seconds.

The driver, and soon to be pilot, would have experienced G-forces usually 
reserved for dog fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners, causing him 
to become irrelevant 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.

Epilogue: It has been calculated that this moron attained a ground speed of 
approximately 420-mph, though much of his voyage was not actually on the 
ground.

You couldn't make this stuff up, could you?
-------------- next part --------------
Now, the winner of this year's Darwin Award
(awarded, unfortunately, as always, posthumously)
 
The Arizona Highway Patrol came upon a pile of smoldering metal embedded in 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. Police investigators finally pieced together the mystery crash.  An amateur rocket scientist  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 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. He attached the JATO unit to the 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 established by the 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 mph and continuing at full power for an additional 20-25 seconds.
 
The driver, and soon to be pilot, would have experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners, causing him to become irrelevant 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.
 
Epilogue: It has been calculated that this moron attained a ground speed of approximately 420-mph, though much of his voyage was not actually on the ground.
 
You couldn't make this stuff up, could you?