Bowling Ball Dropped From Airplane

[Robb]

I love Utah!



Two researchers hurled a 14-pound, red-swirl bowling ball out the window of a rented Cessna light plane from 820 feet above the desert near Grantsville.

Patrick Wiggins said the test, which saw the ball sink halfway into the frozen clay, reaped important data.

(snip)

The plan is to keep dropping objects, maybe rocks and iron or slag that more closely simulate meteorites. The experimenters also want to try different altitudes, but they believe it won't be necessary to soar to great heights for their tests. After falling a certain distance, an object stops accelerating because of air resistance. So higher won't get it dropping faster.

"Next time, we are going to go a bit higher. We are trying to get where it will fall straight down, as a meteorite would," Wiggins said, but most important, "the test showed we could do this without hurting anybody."

(more)

Also, more good pictures at their website.

[Leftist78]

1. awesome

I now have a new entry to my "top 10 best jobs in the world" list :)

[thermodynamic]

2. Cool! Both Hollywood and terrorists could take notes...

Who needs to fly into a building? They can just rig the landing gear to drop bowling balls filled with nitro or whatever upon release... blammo.

And just imagine if hollywood movies went that route instead... given the precedence for crap comedy in movies these days, the idea isn't as far fetched or silly at all...

As for the real purpose, simulating meteorites, wouldn't it be better to drop bowling balls onto buildings? Or prepare missile defence systems?

Why waste the money? The way America and thus the world is going, the almight dollar will drop faster and hit harder anyway. x(

[mouse7]

3. Call me when they pick up a 7-10 split from over 1000 ft.

That will be worth giving these yokels their 15 minutes of fame.

[0rganism]

4. I would LOVE to read the research grant proposal for this operation

Don't you just know they're going to come up with an excuse to drop all kinds of weird crap, like anvils, safes, pianos (well, maybe not with a Cessna), you name it.

"Well, what if the meteorite were shaped like Aunt Gertrude? We must experiment!"

[DemoTex]

5. Hmmm .. hope the FAA approved ahead of time!

They cite FAR 91.15, but did they run it up the flagpole first?

FAR 91.15 Dropping Objects

No pilot in command of a civil aircraft may allow
any object to be dropped from that aircraft in flight
that creates a hazard to persons or property.
However, this section does not prohibit the dropping
of any object if reasonable precautions are
taken to avoid injury or damage to persons or
property.

A perceived violation of FAR 91.15 could result in an FAR 91.7 (Dangerous and Wreck-less) violation. FAR 91.7 violations are bad, bad news.

[DS1]

6. They should make a rocket powered bunker busting bowling ball

Stee-rike!