Airplanes = Tanks???

[Drunky]

Warning:  Not intended as a flame bait but it might get me in trouble along anyone who posts in this thread.  So there, you are warned.

I was reading a complete unrelated thread in a complete different board in a completely different universe when someone mentioned planes and what was/wasn't expected after a crash.

Shrewd questions sprang to my mind in the following order:

• What are planes made out of?
• How fast do planes travel?
• Am I out of beer?
• What exactely is that thing humping my leg?
• Are Hollywood actors really real people?

Of course it is only the first two questions that bear upon this thread so I will address them specifically.

In an effort to be most proficient I will address each question seperately and as most accurate as I can manage with my dull intellect and drunkeness.

What are planes made out of?
Aluminum.  I believe that if you consider surface area of practically every part of the plane then the bulk of it is aluminum.  Further I also believe that fuel can be considered a rather large percentage of the total weight of a plane when it is topped off.  Never mind the weight from the McD'ed lard-asses on the plane.

How fast do planes travel?
Pretty damn fast.  I believe that a 737 can travel around 586 miles per hour.  Of course this is at altitude but I would imagine that a plane that was falling out of the sky (being aided by gravity) would still go pretty damn fast.

Another question:  Why are you asking and talking about this?

Well, ho, ho, ho.  It's Christmas, isn't it?  Well because a rather large object (say a plane) being made out of most aluminum (say a plane) falling out of the sky into the ground would probably not leave much in the way of wreckage.  Escpecially after the fuel caught fire.  I don't know the flash point of aluminum but I would expect it to be low enough to burn from any fuel fire caused from an airliner.

Ta ta for tonight and maybe longer.

[Lizking]

Pulverized aluminium is an explosive, but more importantly, I am out of beer.

[loser]

Drunky, why not build a plane out of your empty beer cans and test your idea out?

Heck why not build a a couple dozen? I'm sure you have the raw materials.

[Drunky]

Circumventing language filter

[Lizking]

Do you utilize the services of a koozie, Drunky?

[Drunky]

Don't really see the need since the beer can stay cool in it's twelve pack as I drink each one.  They seem to keep each other cool.

It's only until the last two or so that they start to become a little warm and by that time I'm feeling pretty good so 'no harm, no foul'.

Don't forget...

Airplanes = Aluminum

Moving Airplanes = Fragmentation Grenade

[Lizking]

OK, just checking, because I don't trust or respect anyone who would use a Koozie.

[Coolridr]

Don't forget...

Airplanes = Aluminum

Moving Airplanes = Fragmentation Grenade

No,
 Moving Airplane = Al Quida Guided Cruise Missile:(

[Drunky]

Originally posted by Coolridr
No,
 Moving Airplane = Al Quida Guided Cruise Missile:(

Stop being political.

I am ONLY commenting on what happens to a plane when it crashes.

I am not mentioning where it might crash or what it might crash into or the damage that it might inflict.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Drunky
Stop being political.

I am ONLY commenting on what happens to a plane when it crashes.

I am not mentioning where it might crash or what it might crash into or the damage that it might inflict.

You gotta remember what a plane is designed to do and that is fly.

I'm no engineer but a planes assembly is not designed for impact therfore I would think that as soon as that does happen it is going to split into a bunch of big peices and a TON of little ones.  That's why there is wreckage leftover.  Sometimes not a lot sometimes really big sections.

Heck even the space shuttle breaking up in the atmospher has some pretty big peices.


OFF TOPIC:

Drunky have you heard about the new aluminum "bottles"  yes a can shaped like a bottle designed to keep it cooler.

[Lizking]

The optimal shape to maintain a given temp is a sphere.  Surface area/volume is all that counts, other than the "r" value of the container.

[Drunky]

I used to fly almost every other month for my previous employer.  Luckily I stopped just before 9/11.  Not that I would have been hijacked because I didn't travel often to the north-eastern states but because I didn't want to have to deal with the stricter security.

Many, many times I used to look at the wings of the plane just before take off and look at them in wonder.  Wonder how a wing skinned with a material less than 3/16" thick riveted to a frame was 'safe'.

Maybe Ripsnort will come into this thread and post some link about airplanes without comment or opinion.  Yeah, that would make this thread perfect.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Drunky
I used to fly almost every other month for my previous employer.  Luckily I stopped just before 9/11.  Not that I would have been hijacked because I didn't travel often to the north-eastern states but because I didn't want to have to deal with the stricter security.

Many, many times I used to look at the wings of the plane just before take off and look at them in wonder.  Wonder how a wing skinned with a material less than 3/16" thick riveted to a frame was 'safe'.

Maybe Ripsnort will come into this thread and post some link about airplanes without comment or opinion.  Yeah, that would make this thread perfect.

the thinner skin is attached to a tough frame.  Their flexability is actually what saves them from ripping off most of the time.

If they didn't flex they'd stress and stress causes cracks.

if you ever can look at the B52.  The way it flys/lands/takes off.  The wings are tiny compared to the fusilage.  If the wing tanks are empty they actually dont sit all the way on the ground.....when full they sagg bigtime.  

Some of the skin on it actually wrinkles because it is part of the structural support of the airplane.  Interesting stuff.