Pumpkin Bombing

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
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Tony
Last Sunday was the first anual Pumpkin Splat at Green Castle Aeroclub. Leah and I went down in the morning and helped dismantle the Wind Tee and then got in on the bombing fun. A big piece of sheet metal and a 55 gallon bucket were placed in the field next to the runway. runs were made at around 300 AGL. Pilot and Bombardier on each flight. Leah and i watched the folks making practice runs and used a little Newtonian Physics knowledge to devise a plan. Leah made a good drop out of the 150 for our first run. It bounced off the landing gear and we thought we were off to the side, but lo and behold the pumpkin shrapnel actually hit the target! Our next run we were actually way too far off to the side due to correcting something that didnt need corrected. Later a club member, also a meteorologist at the local news station, needed a bombardier so i jumped in with him. I made the first drop and as soon as i let go i was certain that it was WAY too short. Next drop was Josh's and he let go a little early too. Landed and everyone was telling us what a great job we had done. huh?? turns out my drop hit within 30 feet of the target, and from the crowds perspetive had actually HIT the target. By the end of the day we were 2nd closest, not too shabby. I realized that the relative motion of the pumpkin after release is straight down, which makes it seem like the pumpkins going to hit directly under you right now, not under where you are going to be. Then I got interviewed by the news station to elaborate on my strategy and tell a little bit about how the whole process works. Dont think we made it on the news though, some 'real' news must've come up. This event once again reinforced my theory that it is a ton of fun throwing stuff out of airplanes. a couple of my more memorable fun flights involve throwing TP out and then cutting it.

Pictures here: http://greencastle-aero.blogspot.com

Nice article about the Pumpkin Bombing at Blakesburg, IA, home of the Antique Airplane Association. Their drop was on Saturday last weekend.

http://www.avweb.com/news/skywrite/188626-1.html
 
I realized that the relative motion of the pumpkin after release is straight down, which makes it seem like the pumpkins going to hit directly under you right now, not under where you are going to be.
Click to expand...
Only if you're hovering...

Given enough height, if you maintain a constant speed, the pumpkin will fall behind you, laterally, as it falls away from you vertically.

Air resistance has an effect. ;)
 
Greebo said:
Only if you're hovering...

Given enough height, if you maintain a constant speed, the pumpkin will fall behind you, laterally, as it falls away from you vertically.

Air resistance has an effect. ;)
Click to expand...

yea. ive taken a few physics classes...

and for the purposes of this discussion, i neglected air resistance, because based on observation, a pumpkin has relatively low air resistance compared to its mass, with only a 300 foot drop they were more or less hitting the target under, and just a little bit behind the overflying airplane. it was within the margin of error of hearing the word "drop!" and actually letting go.

and the realization i had that i had let go early was immediately after dropping, when air resistance actually had had no effect and the relative motion WAS straight down.
 
You can't just be happy throwing heavy things out of an airplane...you have to bring Newtonian physics into. Sometimes I'm happy I'm dumb...I can just throw heavy things out of an airplane, chuckle, and be done :).
 
The real question is...What if the airplane is on a treadmill? Do you need a smaller treadmill for the pumpkin?
 
Tony, you have that nice wind tunnel right on campus. I figure if you give the prof in charge some glider time in return you should have been able to figure out the air resistance of the pumpkin. Besides between you and Leah, you should have been able to do the math.....

Pete
 
vontresc said:
Tony, you have that nice wind tunnel right on campus. I figure if you give the prof in charge some glider time in return you should have been able to figure out the air resistance of the pumpkin. Besides between you and Leah, you should have been able to do the math.....

Pete
Click to expand...

hmm im thinking a senior project we have found.

"Methods for determining the flight path of a Pumpkin dropped at low altitude from light aircraft"
 
AWACSEng said:
The real question is...What if the airplane is on a treadmill? Do you need a smaller treadmill for the pumpkin?
Click to expand...

what if you drop the pumpkin on a treadmill that is moving the same speed as the pumpkin but the opposite direction. will the pumpkin explode on impact?
 
If not it will when it hits the wall after being flung off the treadmill. And sorry to everyone else, I just had to do it. I'll have a long talk with the little devil sitting on my shoulder. He told me to do it.
 
tonycondon said:
what if you drop the pumpkin on a treadmill that is moving the same speed as the pumpkin but the opposite direction. will the pumpkin explode on impact?
Click to expand...

In the words of Prof Hubert Farnsworth..."I think my brain just stroked." :p


And while we're picking nits...

Last Sunday was the first annual Pumpkin Splat
Click to expand...

It can't be annual if it's the first. You can hope it will be annual. It can be inaugural. It can be the first. But it can't be the first annual. Good lord, I'm channeling my dad.
 
Teller1900 said:
...It can't be annual if it's the first. You can hope it will be annual. It can be inaugural. It can be the first. But it can't be the first annual. Good lord, I'm channeling my dad.
Click to expand...

Didja know that in the new "Young Frankenstein" musical Mel Brooks stole the joke from long ago blurbs for "blaxplotation" movies?

"Together again!... For the first time!"
 
tonycondon said:
hmm im thinking a senior project we have found.

"Methods for determining the flight path of a Pumpkin dropped at low altitude from light aircraft"
Click to expand...
Tony...you didn't hear this from me, BUT...

In the corner of the lobby at Hap's is a Norden bombsight...:D

Fly safe!

David
 
MauleSkinner said:
Tony...you didn't hear this from me, BUT...

In the corner of the lobby at Hap's is a Norden bombsight...:D

Fly safe!

David
Click to expand...

yes i know. im very familiar, always threaten to use it on the 172s over one of the camera holes :)
 
Tony looks like a lot of fun!

Something about seeing pumkins being demolished?!
 
I hope there was pie afterwards!!

I saw the back of your head at one point in the video. You are star now in two states!
 
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Tony.

You guys were just on the Fox News channel. You are nationally known now!
It looked like too much fun.

Barb
 
really!? awesome! there was talk from the club news guy that we may end up on CNN, but I guess Fox is OK too.
 
barb was it on Fox News or was it your local fox station?
 
It was Fox News, the show right before O'Reilly. The host was Something Shepard or Shepard Someone. You guys were on about 7:45 EST.
 
cool, nothing showing up on fox's website yet
 
isn't that lovely - lumped together with puppy thieves ... :)
 
Pretty cool - Shepard Smith seems to like pumkins flying out of planes.
 
You were crowned with puppy thieves! :eek:

Shepard Smith is probably my most favorite news guy. He does a great job of presenting news. There's always some piece of video from an odd event such as yours. I'm glad ya made it on there.
 
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