At 07:35 AM 2/12/98 -0800, John J. Peloquin wrote:
>
>I've heard similar stories about the survivability of our LBCs in the
>past. What I have been told is that because computer similation and CAD
>were not available to the engineers that designed LBCs, they calculated
>the necessary strengths as best they could, then added a larger margin of
>error than designers do today. Thus our cars are stronger than they need
>to be and survive collisions better than one would predict given their
>size.
>
That's a possiblity. I'd bet the service life of a DC3 is far
longer than that of an AirBus A310.
Take a look at the pix of crash tested MGBs. The cars were a foot
or more shorter front and rear, with the suspensions collapsed,
however the cockpit was unharmed. Even the one 'B I've seen
that was in a "no survivors" incident had an intact cockpit with
doors that still opened and closed. *Wear your seatbelts kids!*
But, while the 'B is a tough old monocoque, there are just some
things I wouldn't want to try in say a Bugeye.
-Keith Wheeler
Team Sanctuary http://www.teamsanctuary.com/
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