I recall reading about an industrial accident in an aerospace factory here in the UK. The eyewitness who described it ( doubtless after having several very large whiskys) said that a fellow worker unwisely walked in front of a safety fence, directly in front of a static aircraft engine while it was running. The unfortunate chap was sucked from the floor and into the engine. There wasn't a lot left of him, according to the article. Another such tale I was told, by someone who used to work at an airport (maybe true, maybe airport urban legend), concerned one of the ground crew who was busy beetling about a passenger jet. He was in front of an engine when the flight crew started it up (safety procedures? who needs 'em!). Luckily for him, he managed to hold on to the engine and avoid being sucked in. Unluckily, he was stuck there for several minutes until someone noticed him and the power was turned off. He was off work on sick leave for quite a while.

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Garlic Bread?!?!

Seemed fine to me. Sill no sound in space! A ship got blown up after being skewered with a green beam of some sort, and it was quite a shock to NOT hear anything.

I downloaded the so-far-unaired "real" pilot from the internet, and one scene in that features a Reaver ship flipping over for a reentry burn.

Where did you get that? So far I've been foiled in my attempts to tape the show (faulty memory for the first episode, faulty equipment for the second episode--argh, I need a DVD recorder!)

I used Kazaa. Do a search for "Firefly", be prepared to wait a week while the 800megs of video download (and I have DSL).

Video & sound quality of the unaired pilot is awful. At one point, "TIMER REC WILL START SOON" flashes up on the screen. The train episode's quality is much better. Again, 400 megs.

Figured out why they called the show "Firefly" though -- the main engine at the back of their spaceship glows brightly and makes the ship look like... a firefly!

Thanks! It shouldn't be too bad with a cable modem.

I caught that as well - I thought it was pretty neat, actually. Maybe it's that I'm so used to the loud blasts that take place in most hollywood sci-fi shows, but to me the no-sound-after-an-explosion thing was pretty eerie & added quite a bit to the atmosphere & mood. Who knew that making things somewhat realistic could be entertaining as well ...



BE

I used Kazaa. Do a search for "Firefly", be prepared to wait a week while the 800megs of video download (and I have DSL).

Could you be more specific about how to do this? E-mail me if it's a bit naughty...[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

I have worked on a fair number of turbofan jet engines and I can personally attest to the fact that a human could not pass through a turbofan engine and survive. This would be regardless of whether is was running or not. That would be the functional equivilent of being tossed into a blender and not being prureed.

Some engines have screening in front of them that prevent anything larger than the screen size (usually a cm or two) from entering the compressor stage of the turbine. This may be how the guy sucked into the Harrier jet survived. That's just speculation though.

Regarding the thoughness of the engines. Both GE and Pratt & Whitney shoot chickens (bought at the grocery store) at their running engines to test whether they can contain the damage caused. Having seen a video of this test I can vouch for the fact that nothing bigger than a bacteria would survive.

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It's just one of those damn things of which there are many few. -- Dan Blocker

Russ, did you actually watch the clip on this page? The guy goes completely inside the engine and although hard to see on the internet clip, when it was on TV, you could see him come out the other side. Also, the clip ends by showing the man a few hours later with some bandages but mostly intact and awake. I will agree that most things would not survive going through a running engine but there is always the chance for an exception.

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"Eternal vigilance is the price of supremacy"
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"Women are like Voltron. The more you can hook up, the better it gets."

Not everybody who goes through a jet engine survives:
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/20...19_94377.shtml

Here's a petition to save 'Firefly'. Apparently, there are rumours that it's going to be cancelled. I thought some of you might be interested.

Already? How well did they think it was going to do on Friday evenings at 8? Interrupted by the World Series?

*grumble*

No I have not seen the clip. I thought I'd made that clear. Obviously not. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img] Knowing what I do about turbofan jet engines I cannot envision someone being sucked into an operating aircraft version and that person surviving.

While I have seen Harrier aircraft up close and personal, there must be some aspect of the induction section, that I am not aware of, which allowed this person to survive.

On a high bypass engine, (such as in the Harrior) the inductor fan, the thing you see when looking into the front of a jet engine, is ducted in such a way that the tips of the blades are not in the incoming air stream. This is so the blade tips cannot go super sonic while the engine is spinning. One could not "bypass" these blades. For this reason, if you get sucked into the intake of the engine, you will be very thinly sliced by the inductor blades (think pepperoni) and then pureed by the compressor section (as in your Warring blendor).

As I mentioned above, there must be some aspect of the way a Harrier is built that allowed this person to be pulled into the intake duct and spit out a side dump before passing thru the inductor blades. Having stuck my head in the intake of a secured Harrier, I can say I have not seen provision such a side dump. Is it possible that the clip was hacked or does not clearly depict what really happened? [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

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It's just one of those damn things of which there are many few. -- Dan Blocker

Ok, I followed the link and watched the clip about a dozen times.

First, the plane is not a Harrier, it is an A-6 Intruder. BIIIIGGGG difference.

Second, the A-6's engine is mounted at the very back end of the plane. In a Harrier it's right up front. So the guy being sucked in the intake duct at the front is about 15 feet from the engine inductor blades. A-6's are dive bomber type attack aircraft and have what's called a "waste gate" ahead of the engine. It's used for divering air away from the engine intake when the plane dives. This allows the pilot to keep the turbine "spun up" (rotating at high speed) while not getting the thrust normally associated with such engine speeds. He can do a nice slow, controlled dive, then close the waste gate and speed away at full power.

It appears that the man is sucked into the intake duct and falls out the waste gate just ahead of the engine. You will note in the clip, as soon as he is most of the way into the intake, fire erupts from the engine exhaust at the very back of the plane. This happens because the engine is not getting enough air and excess fuel is buring outside the exhaust as it comes in contact with the oxygen in the air.

When the guy falls out you will note that he is ahead of the burning exhaust. This is why I think he fell out of the waste gate instead of actually going through the engine.

You will also note that some fire comes out the waste gate with the guy. As he comes out, the engine suddenly gets a big gulp of oxygen as his body exits (unblocks) the duct. This would probably cause unburned fuel from the engine to "rebound" forward (burp)exiting through the waste gate.
So the short version is, he didn't actually go through the engine.

If you ever go to Las Vegas, you'll want to take that guy with you. He's the luckiest SOB on the face of the Earth. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img]

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It's just one of those damn things of which there are many few. -- Dan Blocker

More about Firefly's "cancellation".

First, I think FireFly was ok.. Since I am a "gun-nut" the fireams bugged me.. They were just.. stupid. If you had spaceships like that and interstellar travel you would definately have something more advanced than S&W revolvers (which those were) and Winchester "Mare Legs". For this reason, I will not be watching the show. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] *goes to see if he can find his rant off of the trekbbs..* I can't seem to find it right now so oh well.

There is another clip of a guy being sucked into a jet engine. This happened during the day, on an aircraft carrier. The guy was VERY lucky, more than the guy being saved by the waste gate.. His helmet saved him. It somehow jammed against something and stopped him from being pulled into the fan. The guy crawled out of the engine and was fine. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] -Colt

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Be not afraid of any man no matter what his size; when danger threatens, call on me, and I will equalize.

Colt, i think the idea for the show is that, sure there are lasers, but they are too expencive for an average joe to afford. as for the exact model of guns they are using, i don't know since i am not a gun aficionado, but it does add to the wild west feel of the show. if thats not your thing, more power to ya. but i think that like or dislike of the show souldn't be based solely on prop department choices.

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The universe is not only queerer than we imagine, it is queerer than we can imagine.
J. B. S. Haldane

This seems to confirm that Firefly is in trouble...

Will Fox Swat Firefly?

They changed the intro... Now we've terraformed several whole galaxies. At least that's what it sounded like. It might have been only one new galaxy.

How would one go about terraforming a whole galaxy anyway?

The show is still fun, even if the intro is driving me crazy.

Speaking of being driven crazy, the TV signal went out for a couple of minutes during the most recent episode, during the sword fight. The captain had just been stabbed during his rush against the bad guy. Then the screen went dark. When broadcast resumed the bad guy was on his back with a sword at his throat. This show had better go into reruns before they cancel it.

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I'm going to get my hands on this dvd of the tv show