How do engineers protect planes against bird strikes?
At the NRC, the weapon of choice is the “chicken cannon,” which has been satirized on the CBC’s Royal Canadian Air Farce for years. The real chicken cannon, a 10-inch-bore, 23-metre-long gun, uses compressed air pressure to launch chickens at various airplane components to test their durability. Since 1968, the “chicken cannon” has fired more than 3,500 times, consuming more than 3.5 tonnes of chickens in the process. The NRC’s institute uses deceased domestic egg-laying chickens for bird strike tests. They are kept frozen and then thawed to room temperature before being shot from the cannon. During engine-ingestion tests, smaller guns are used to fire smaller birds. When calibrating the cannon, the researchers use mock chickens made of gelatin and fibrous material, but to truly simulate the impact of a live bird, Gould said there is no substitute for the real thing.
