MythBusters Shredded Plane VH-KBZ
I watch very little TV, but I will tune in to MythBusters if I happen to see it flip by. Recently there were two episodes with aviation themes. One took a look at the damage caused by a chickens hitting the windshield of a small airplane. Would it make a difference if the chicken was frozen or not? Turns out it really didn’t matter…. in both cases the poor Piper they were firing at had the windshield demolished.
The second episode of MythBusters with an aviation theme was called “Shredded Plane”. I remember seeing this photo a couple of years ago. The plane was up for auction on eBay buy a guy with an angry ex-wife. Apparently he wouldn’t let her get breast implants and instead bought the plane. She got mad and went out to the airport with a chainsaw and the picture you see was supposedly the result.
So the MythBusters set out to see what could cause damage like that. They tried to hack-up a plane fuselage with a chainsaw but the metal didn’t tear the proper way.
They also heard another variation of the story which said someone else was hand-propping their plane without someone at the controls, the engine started, and the plane started rolling forward into another plane where the propeller shredded the fuselage.
So the MythBusters created their own way to test the myth…. which I won’t spoil for you here. :) But if you want to catch the listings, look for the MythBusters show on the Discovery Channel and find the “Shredded Plane” Episode.
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POSTED IN: General Aviation, aviation
3 opinions for MythBusters Shredded Plane VH-KBZ
Nick
May 8, 2006 at 11:04 \127\u\Monday\u
I am afraid the second myth was the right one. This plane was damaged by another’s propeller when it lost control on the tarmac, slicing into the University plane. It happened in Adelaide, Australia at Parafield Airport. We all had a good laugh here when we saw it in the paper. As for the chainsaw version, well… makes a good story that anyone will believe.
Adam
Jul 29, 2007 at 07:15 \209\u\Sunday\u
Nick is correct. To elaborate, the U logo on the tail is the logo of the University of South Australia aka UniSA (http://unisa.edu.au/).
alex
May 5, 2008 at 10:27 \125\u\Monday\u
What the….. chainsaw?? that plane was part of the university of south australia’s flying school of which im apart of, it was a result of a runaway plane which caused this as well as severe damage to 4 other unisa planes.
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