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On this episode of Mythbusters,

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Plains,

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What Happened?

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Trains,

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Oh, it's perfect!

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And Propeller Mobiles.

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Come on, baby!

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It's chalks away as Adam and Jamie tackle the mystery of the shredded plane.

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I'm so excited, man!

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And creating fire without matches.

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Cavemen could do it, but can these guys?

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All is lost.

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We do.

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Who are the Mythbusters?

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Adam Savage.

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Answer all over my head, man!

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Jamie Heineman.

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Gets me all worked up, just looking at it.

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Tori Balechi.

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Whoa!

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Carrie Byron.

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That was crazy!

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And Grant Imajara.

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Go get him, boy.

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Between them, over 50 years of special effects experience.

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Go!

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No!

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They don't just tell the Myths.

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They put them to the test.

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To Mythbusters fans, this abandoned naval yard should look very familiar.

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It's one of Adam and Jamie's favorite haunts.

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It's a place where they can get away from it all.

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A place where they can find a little peace of mind.

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A place where they can smash stuff up.

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Well, they're back.

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And that can only mean one thing.

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Some large-scale destruction is just around the corner.

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Care to explain what we're doing out here with 700 feet of track?

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A 380 horsepower airplane engine mounted to a train car.

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An airplane fuselage and 10,000 bags of sand.

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This all started with an email that was circulating all over the net.

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And it had the image of an airplane that got neatly sliced up.

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Oh, like a loaf of bread.

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Yeah.

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And it didn't look appropriate to the explanations that we're giving.

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What was the explanation?

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Well, there were a couple of them, actually.

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And the first one was that a disgruntled ex-wife went after the plane with a chainsaw.

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Okay, I see some very reasonable destruction in our future.

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So, first up, the ex-wife explanation.

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Adam's on the prowl for a plane to shred.

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I need some more aircraft parts.

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Okay, we're on the right place.

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All right, you got some fuselages I might be able to walk with?

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We do?

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Sure.

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Kenny Faith runs Faith Aircraft in Sacramento.

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His birds have all had their wings clipped.

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What I need is a couple of fuselages, at least two, hopefully three.

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Adam scours the lot looking for suitable candidates.

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Wow, this looks absolutely exactly like the one I'm seeing in the picture here.

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I mean, it's really close.

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That's fantastic.

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He finds three planes that fit the bill.

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This is the last one.

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Nowadays, it takes a forklift to get these babies off the ground.

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There you go.

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Oh, yeah.

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Even decrepit craft don't come cheap.

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So Kenny and Adam do a deal.

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Kenny will slice the price if Adam agrees to slice each plane in half and take just the tail end.

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Hang on, is Adam confirming the myth right now?

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True, he's not actually using a chainsaw, but the words hot knife and butter spring to mind.

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Ray down.

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I'm actually starting to believe that this myth might be plausible.

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Whoa!

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What?

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You must obey.

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You know, Jamie can wear this on Halloween and he can really go out as the bullet.

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Okay, let's recap the myth.

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Right, Jamie, for this scene, your motivation is your jilted lover.

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He doesn't care about you anymore.

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He's found a younger thing and then what to wreck his pride and joy was neat vertical slices.

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What?

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No elaborate setup?

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No scale tests?

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No blueprint plans?

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This could be the quickest myth bust on record.

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If Jamie can start the chainsaw.

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Jilted Jamie gives the plane some gills.

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The cuts are like notches on the belt of a cheating lover.

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At first glance, it looks like the myth could be confirmed.

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Or is it?

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I see these little tiny scrappy marks all the way up and down, which I didn't see in the picture.

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The edges are too jagged and uneven.

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The cuts in the picture are clean.

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That surgical precision is impossible with a chainsaw.

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After 30 years of doing this kind of thing, Jamie's got a rock solid eye for measurement.

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He actually did cuts that I would call almost exactly 7 inches apart, which is totally accurate to what we see in the picture.

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And still, I think it's the best effort we could do with a chainsaw, but I don't think that it matches what we see.

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I don't get why somebody would make this neat little pattern on the side of an airplane if they were really...

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...stopped.

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Maybe cut the plane in half, maybe cut the tail off, you know, a few other things I could think of, but this pattern, what's that about?

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It doesn't make any sense.

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That's supposed to keep you up in the air.

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Okay, so assuming the photo is real and assuming a chainsaw-wielding woman wasn't responsible, how did it happen?

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Jamie has another tale to tell.

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Well, the story goes that an airplane got loose in a hanger and ran into another airplane and the props caused this damage.

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Yeah, I read that. It really sounds kind of fishy to me, but I'm not sure how to test this besides taking the photo to a forensics lab and working out the math.

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I mean, what do you think?

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I think we need to destroy some more airplanes.

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Do it full-scale.

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Yeah, mayhem, destruction, the whole nine yards.

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Absolutely radical.

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That's what we do.

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So let's go over that scenario again.

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For some reason, a pilot has to hand start his plane.

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This means getting out of the cockpit and spinning the propeller.

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The propeller starts, but before the pilot can get back in the cockpit, the plane careers off across the tarmac and crashes into another plane.

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The spinning prop gouging a precise pattern in the fuselage.

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We're at the West Valley Flying Club in Northern California.

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About an hour south of the Mythbuster Central to find out two things.

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One is, is it even possible to hand start a modern airplane?

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And two, what are the physical characteristics of them?

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We're going to measure up some and see if it is remotely possible for one plane to inflict the kind of damage we see on another.

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General Manager Josh Smith has lined up a plane similar to the one in the photo.

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Let's do it from 9 o'clock and let's do it from 6 o'clock.

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9 and a half inches from 6 o'clock.

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This plane is exactly the same kind of high-performance single-engine airplane that is outlined in the myth.

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So these measurements should be perfect for us to figure it out.

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Okay, 24 inches.

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Now, in aviation's early days, hand propping was the only way to start a plane.

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Those daring young men in their flying machines defied decapitation every time they wanted to go up and e-up up.

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It was enough to get any pioneering pilot all up in the air.

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Nowadays, waking your winged steed is all done from the safety of the cockpit.

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Well, usually.

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Typically, the only reason you would ever have to hand start a plane is if your electrical system goes flat.

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So like similar to a car, your battery runs dead.

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Is there a difference between a normal starting speed and a hand starting speed?

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The typical idle speed will be around 600 rpm.

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You know, typically right after you throw the prop on a takeoff start, regardless if it's electrical or done manually, it's going to be around 12 to 1500 rpm.

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Is that enough to propel the plane forward?

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The plane, depending on the surface, will generally move forward even at like 600 rpm.

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In fact, a pilotless plane that's runaway on the runway could reach about 30 miles per hour.

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Time for Jamie to chance his arm and his other extremities starting this process.

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When you throw the prop, what is essentially a thrust-creating device, once you're flying, now becomes a decapitation device if you're not careful when your hand's starting.

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So my advice is never try this at home.

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Unlike the MiG, our plane does have someone in the cockpit ready to keep a tight rain on the horsepower.

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Oh, getting nervous.

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Should Jamie actually get it started?

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Oh, you're going to get it this time, Jamie.

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That feels like it's just like, you know, it doesn't feel like it's doing anything.

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I think I could be here all day long.

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Once again, nothing ever goes the way we originally thought it would go.

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Okay, now what?

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We're moving to a smaller plane, this one right here behind me.

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This time, Adam tries to start a revolution.

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Oh, that was so close!

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Yay!

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Even though Jamie was not able to hand start this plane, we discovered some really vital facts for the myth.

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One is, it is possible to hand start one of these.

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Two, it's considered very bad practice to hand start one without someone sitting at the controls because they have to throttle it back from the idle speed.

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Three is, if you hand start it, it'll go right to 1500 RPM and if you don't have someone sitting behind the wheel, it's just going to start rolling across the tarmac.

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Good job!

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Thank you, sir.

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All right, I think it's time to get back to the shop.

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It's the classic castaway scenario.

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A plane wreck survivor, in this case Tom Hanks, is washed up on a desert island and he's got his zippo wet.

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To survive, Tom needs fire, which, he discovers, is about as easy as getting blood from a stone.

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Now, Tori, Grant and Kerry are going to be stranded on their own desert island.

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I think we're all going to die.

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Their quest, fire without matches.

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So Jamie, with all your years of being an outdoor survivalist, have you ever had to start a fire without matches?

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Yeah.

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Would you like to go in into that?

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Well, I've done the typical thing with the sticks, you know, the string and the bow and he rotated until you build up a coal.

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It's pretty tricky, but I've done it.

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Well, that's one we're going to try.

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We're going to try a few more to see if we can start a fire without using matches.

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One, we're going to polish the bottom of a soda can with chocolate, see if we can use it like a mirror.

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We're going to use a steel wool and a battery.

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We're going to see if we can start a fire with a bullet.

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And the last one is see if we can start a fire with ice.

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Well, that one I'd like to see.

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You'll get as wish, but first on the chopping block, it's the classic fire-starting technique.

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So, can our bright sparks pit their wits and light their fire?

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Obviously, you can't just take any two pieces of wood and start rubbing them together and get fire.

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I thought that was the idea.

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Well, there's going to be a little bit of preparation.

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Gasoline, gunpowder.

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Unfortunately, like Tom Hanks and Castaway, they've got nothing but wood, elbow grease and a dim and distant memory of their cave dwelling ancestry.

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Are you going to give it a try?

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I gave it a shot, but this one, you're being very optimistic with this one.

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Carrie's normal enthusiasm has already been extinguished.

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There's just as much fun as it looks.

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You know, if you don't get this lit, we're going to boat you off the island.

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Any scouts watching might want to look away.

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This ain't pretty.

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Oh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.

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Seems like he's off the island too.

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I'm getting smoke, but I'm not getting any embers.

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Oh, those are so tired.

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I think we're all going to die.

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With things looking grim for our Castaways, they decide to boost their chances with some primitive technology.

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This is definitely it.

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Hey, I got the bow working.

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Yeah?

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There's a lot to coordinate here. This is like skiing or something.

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Grant slips into hysteria.

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The first stages of Desert Island Madness.

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Desperate measures are called for.

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Like a power drill, which Carrie claims to have found in the wreckage.

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Oh, I'm seeing some black.

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I see smoke.

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Oh, it's smoking.

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So that's as fast as we have to get it going.

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They seem to be busting the myth that where there's smoke, there's fire.

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She's getting black wood.

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She's getting smoke.

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And we're still not getting an ember.

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Even with modern technology, our mythbusters are looking like a bunch of fire retardants.

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I need a battery change on this.

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While Carrie and Tari fail at cheating, Grant stays true to the myth with a prehistoric hand drill.

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What the hell is that?

225
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They laughed at Galileo too.

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It's perhaps worth remembering at this point that Neanderthals had fire making whipped over 100,000 years ago.

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Oh, geez, do you feel the heat coming from that?

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Our hapless hominids are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

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Maybe we should be building a raft or something.

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So how's Tom Hanks doing?

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Through a process of trial and error, necessity at last gives birth to invention.

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When Tom's tinder catches flame, his celebration resonates across a million years of mankind.

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Fire!

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The very hardest part about all this is we know it's not a myth.

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We know you can make fire while rubbing two sticks together.

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It's been proven over and over.

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It's just that we really suck at it.

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And because they suck at it, they keep cheating.

239
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,000
Look under F for fire.

240
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,000
Or how about G for gunpowder?

241
00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,000
Would you call using gunpowder cheating?

242
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,000
Look, we got fire!

243
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,000
Look at that! All it took was running.

244
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,000
It worked!

245
00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000
Fantastic!

246
00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,000
Wow, what a resolve.

247
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,000
It's fair to say they're not setting the world on fire.

248
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:56,000
So starving and beaten, they call in an expert and venture into the untamed wilderness of the car park.

249
00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:03,000
You ought to be able from start to finish to get fire in anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes, depending on what you have.

250
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:08,000
According to survival expert Peter Wolf, Grant was on the right track with his bow.

251
00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,000
I want to use my full drill.

252
00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,000
You see that dark dust forming?

253
00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,000
I want that hole as big around as my drill.

254
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:23,000
For tinder, the Wolfman favors the yucca leaf.

255
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:26,000
Now I'm going to use a nice large bundle here.

256
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:32,000
You don't want to catch your fibers while you're right in the middle of making a nice little hole.

257
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,000
You see how straight the bow is?

258
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:37,000
I want to keep it level, keep your string in the middle.

259
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,000
Use the whole bow.

260
00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:48,000
What the heck?

261
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,000
Too nice. Job.

262
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,000
Meanwhile, Adam and Jerry are on the way to the beach.

263
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,000
Meanwhile, Adam and Jamie are out of the fire and into the flying plan.

264
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:13,000
I'm having trouble visualizing what happens between these two planes when they hit, between the propeller, the body of the plane, all that stuff.

265
00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:19,000
I'd like to do a mock-up of these planes in scale and figure out the math of speeds in RPM.

266
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:24,000
It'll give us at least a really good starting point to work out the logistics of the large scale experiment.

267
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,000
Right. Well, that sounds like a great idea.

268
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:31,000
Well, you're doing that. I've got a lead on an engine that I found on the Internet, so I'm going to go check that out.

269
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:32,000
Okay.

270
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:37,000
Step one. Adam digs out some diagrams, which he'll blow up to one-twelfth scale.

271
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:41,000
One-twelfth scale means that one inch will equal one foot.

272
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:53,000
This will allow me to measure out and match to the photo the amount of slices and their distance apart, and then calculate from that the exact speed that the runaway plane must have been traveling at.

273
00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,000
This calculation is crucial.

274
00:17:55,000 --> 00:18:03,000
Adam's math can't have the plane moving any faster than 30 miles per hour. The top ground speed of a runaway plane.

275
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:04,000
Perfect.

276
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:07,000
Jamie, meanwhile, is shopping for an aircraft engine.

277
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,000
Can you tell me what the idle speed on that engine is?

278
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:19,000
And before you know it, a 380 horsepower six-cylinder engine is touching down, direct from an aviation school in Ohio.

279
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:24,000
All right, so here's how the myth is supposed to have worked.

280
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:30,000
Our little pilot man, he climbs out of his plane. He walks over.

281
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:34,000
Oh, I think I better hand start this plane.

282
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:36,000
Oh, jot. Oh, jot.

283
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:43,360
The plane starts to go, oh no I better get out of here, he dives for safety.

284
00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:56,360
And the plane travels and starts to go into the victim plane.

285
00:18:56,360 --> 00:19:00,680
This myth is looking really at least physically possible at this point.

286
00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:06,960
I was wondering how the wing of this plane would get past the tail of this plane.

287
00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,480
But I've got everything at its correct elevations here.

288
00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:16,000
And from everything that this tells me, the runaway plane clears relatively, the wing

289
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:22,040
clears relatively underneath the back of the shredded plane.

290
00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:25,800
And right there, this myth is starting to seem like it might be possible.

291
00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:27,640
Now I think it's time to do some math.

292
00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:31,920
The key to determining the speed of the plane lies in working out the distance between the

293
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,760
slices.

294
00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:40,160
Adam works out that the plane in the picture is punctured every 7 inches.

295
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:41,160
Perfect.

296
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:46,120
My marks here are matching up to the photo in terms of their spacing on the body of the

297
00:19:46,120 --> 00:19:47,120
plane.

298
00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:52,360
If the prop spinning at 1500 rpm, how fast does the plane have to be going in order to

299
00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:54,600
make slices 7 inches apart?

300
00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:58,000
It would make 4500 slices per minute.

301
00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:04,720
So 4500 times 7 inches is 31,500 inches.

302
00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:09,880
Divide that by 12, I get 2625 feet per minute.

303
00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:15,000
Multiply that by 60 for the hours, I get 157,500 feet per hour.

304
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:20,200
Divide it by 5,280, the number of feet in a mile, and I get 29.8 miles per hour.

305
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:23,240
A totally reasonable speed for this plane to be traveling at.

306
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:30,240
I can't wait to tell Jamie, he's going to say, well that's what I was hoping to hear.

307
00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,240
That's what I wanted to hear.

308
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,360
Because if it was 600 miles per hour, there's a problem.

309
00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:37,160
Or 2 miles an hour.

310
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,120
So far the pieces are falling into place.

311
00:20:40,120 --> 00:20:44,200
We know a plane can be hand started.

312
00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:48,240
And thanks to Adam's scale cutouts, we know the math stacks up.

313
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:53,520
The next question is whether the prop itself is capable of making those neat little slices.

314
00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:55,480
Everything else is lined up.

315
00:20:55,480 --> 00:21:10,160
That's the one remaining bit.

316
00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:14,440
This next one I'm excited about, we're going to try to light a fire with a bullet.

317
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:19,400
And the idea here is to pull the bullet out of the casing, empty the gunpowder into your

318
00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:24,240
kindling, put the empty shell back in the gun, and shooting at the gunpowder, igniting

319
00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:26,440
it and igniting your kindling.

320
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:30,560
The key to this neat idea is the firing cap at the bottom of the cartridge.

321
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:35,120
Normally, it ignites the gunpowder, which fires the bullet from the shell.

322
00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:41,240
According to this myth, to start a fire, just remove the bullet, pour out the gunpowder,

323
00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:47,400
and use the firing cap as a fire lighter.

324
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:51,880
With nine bullets in a clip, theoretically they'd have up to nine shots at starting a

325
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:53,320
fire.

326
00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:59,560
They collect gunpowder from nine bullets and head for the Mythbusters blast chamber, where

327
00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:06,320
they use up all nine lives.

328
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:08,440
These cats are going to have to think again.

329
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,080
Do you have any more ideas of your sleeve?

330
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,040
It seems kind of funny not being able to light gunpowder.

331
00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:17,160
I mean, it's so flammable and all, you'd think it would be a snap.

332
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:22,480
But you know, here on Mythbusters, we find ways of making easy things hard.

333
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,960
The problem is that the firing cap won't ignite the gunpowder unless it's compressed

334
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:27,960
by a bullet.

335
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:33,000
When you have the bullet compressing the gunpowder up against that cap, then you have that connection.

336
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:38,560
Otherwise, if there's no bullet, the cap just blows the gunpowder out like confetti.

337
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:44,560
So they decide to recalibrate the myth with a rifle, a bullet and some cloth.

338
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:49,760
Hopefully, since there's more gunpowder in the round, it'll ignite the cloth and we'll

339
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:51,680
have a burning ember shoot out of the barrel.

340
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:55,200
And we won't have all of our gunpowder just blown away.

341
00:22:55,200 --> 00:23:00,360
With any luck, the wad of cloth will compress the gunpowder sufficiently to achieve ignition.

342
00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:04,560
All right, so that's packed tight in there.

343
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:05,880
Holy.

344
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:09,880
Nope.

345
00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:14,720
With the prospect of raw fish for dinner again, Carrie urges a radical rethink.

346
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:19,480
Maybe it's time to start replicating the results and actually just make it happen instead

347
00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,080
of trying to make it happen the way the myth says.

348
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:26,720
Tori suspects that the black powder used in old-fashioned muskets is more flammable than

349
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:31,200
the smokeless gunpowder in modern bullets.

350
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:33,080
So he quickly sets up an experiment.

351
00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:34,600
This is the black powder.

352
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:35,600
This is the smokeless powder.

353
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:36,600
Okay.

354
00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:38,600
Oh, quick.

355
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:47,560
So that's why I think it benefits us to go with the black powder.

356
00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:48,560
I don't know.

357
00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,640
It looked to me like the smokeless was on longer.

358
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,000
It seems like that should be better for us.

359
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,000
But did you see how easy it was to ignite the black powder?

360
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:02,880
If it's easier to ignite the black powder, we're going to get a better chance of igniting

361
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:03,880
our cotton.

362
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:05,880
It ignites faster.

363
00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:06,880
Like that.

364
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:15,920
So take one musket at a measure of black powder, then ram home a wad of cotton.

365
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,480
Finally, add a firing cap and cross your fingers.

366
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:21,480
Yeah!

367
00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:27,480
At last, fire in the hole takes on real meaning.

368
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:29,480
That's it.

369
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:30,480
Yeah!

370
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:39,480
Meanwhile, another myth buster is feeling a little under the gun.

371
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,480
Seems a few gremlins have set up shop in the engine.

372
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:46,480
And while Jamie might be a propeller head, he's no aircraft mechanic.

373
00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:48,480
The default is supposed to be out.

374
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:50,480
That way.

375
00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:51,480
Yeah.

376
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:53,480
Luckily, this guy is.

377
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:59,480
His name is Earl Hibbler, and his colleague is propeller specialist Brian Sullivan.

378
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:03,480
They've agreed to help Adam and Jamie make this myth take wing.

379
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,480
But it won't be easy.

380
00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:10,480
You know, when you get an engine from an A&P school, they have students that take it apart,

381
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:13,480
put it together, take it apart, put it together, take it apart, put it together.

382
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:15,480
And not necessarily right.

383
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:17,480
We've detected a few problems.

384
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:23,480
Bad magnetos, which give the spark plugs their spark.

385
00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:29,480
We also are missing a fuel pump, but Brian and Earl seem to think that we can solve those problems by the end of the day.

386
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:33,480
They said they have no idea what the word no means, and they're going to get this thing running.

387
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:39,480
While Earl and Brian get down to business, Adam and Jamie use the time to do a little research.

388
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:45,480
You know, propeller damage is not nearly as rare as I originally thought when we started this whole myth.

389
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:51,480
In fact, in 2001 in New York, two planes collided on the runway and had prop damage.

390
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:56,480
Well, actually in 2005 in Chino, California, the same type of accident happened.

391
00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:03,480
And then in 1986 in Santa Paula, California, two planes collided 150 feet in the air and had prop damage.

392
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:10,480
You know, prop damage isn't limited only to planes. In 1983 in Quincy, Washington, a car on the ground was contacted by a plane

393
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:13,480
and the three passengers were actually injured.

394
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:20,480
And then finally in Concord, California in 2004, an airplane landed on a freeway

395
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:25,480
and sliced up a minivan nearly amputating the leg of an 11-year-old girl.

396
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:27,480
Meanwhile, back at the grease pit.

397
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:29,480
This engine's fixing to become very dangerous.

398
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:30,480
Are you all ready?

399
00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:31,480
Excellent.

400
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:32,480
You ready?

401
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,480
Yeah, I'm getting there.

402
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:35,480
Y'all ready?

403
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:36,480
Yeah.

404
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:37,480
Clear.

405
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:54,480
Earl and Brian have got that engine purring like a kitten.

406
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:58,480
An asthmatic kitten who's just run the New York Marathon.

407
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:15,480
Adam uses a tachometer to check the propeller's RPM.

408
00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:20,480
Well, that easily made it to 1500. We actually got up to 2000 RPM there.

409
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:25,480
But while the engine starts okay, it just won't keep going.

410
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:29,480
Earl's diagnosis? Dirty fuel injector servos.

411
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:31,480
I bet it's servo.

412
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,480
Think we're just pouring fuel on it or no fuel?

413
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:36,480
Yeah, I think it's just pouring fuel.

414
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,480
I don't know whether we have to climb all the way inside of it and try and clean it out

415
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:43,480
or whether we ought to delay the shoot, but we're definitely running out of time.

416
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:48,480
And this beautiful engine's proving really problematic.

417
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:06,480
So the idea is you take a piece of chocolate, rub it on the bottom of your colican, which is pretty dull.

418
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,480
Chocolate acts like a mild abrasive.

419
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:11,480
And after time...

420
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,480
So we're going to try to polish this up to a mirror finish.

421
00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:14,480
Right.

422
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:18,480
It's a cunning use of the concave shape at the bottom of a soda can.

423
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:25,480
According to the myth, it can focus the sun's rays into a single point, creating enough heat to start a fire.

424
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:28,480
Go.

425
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:35,480
It sounds simple enough, which is a copper bottom guarantee that it's anything but.

426
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:37,480
Okay, you guys are about nine minutes into it.

427
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:39,480
How far off do you think you are from a mirror finish?

428
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:41,480
About a hundred freaking years.

429
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:46,480
According to the myth, polishing with chocolate will help to remove the oxide layer.

430
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,480
Andy wrote the tooling marks.

431
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:52,480
Imagine you're freezing right now and it's getting dark.

432
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:55,480
Well, it's getting dark.

433
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:56,480
It's getting dark.

434
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:58,480
We won't have any sun, so we won't be able to light it anyway.

435
00:28:58,480 --> 00:28:59,480
Good call.

436
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:00,480
So all is lost.

437
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:01,480
We do.

438
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:07,480
Six solid hours of polishing later, and this survivalist is losing the will to live.

439
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:10,480
And the results aren't exactly dazzling.

440
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:15,480
So what we need to do is get all the sun's rays, which are all traveling about parallel.

441
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:20,480
The reflector's going to take them and focus them in on one point, because it's parabolic.

442
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:22,480
First up, Grant's effort.

443
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:26,480
The fire extinguisher may be a little optimistic.

444
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:30,480
I don't want to discount your work, but I don't think this is going to work very well.

445
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:32,480
Should we move on to the next can?

446
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:33,480
Yeah.

447
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:34,480
Get one a little bit of a mirror finish?

448
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:35,480
It's, yeah.

449
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:41,480
If it's dull, it means that that light is not getting, it's actually bouncing off a little bit, getting dispersed.

450
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:48,480
Tari's can is much shinier, and right away, the parabola produces an encouraging hotspot on the leaf.

451
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:50,480
It's going, it's going, it's burning.

452
00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:52,480
But they can't hold the leaf still enough.

453
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:54,480
The hotspot keeps moving.

454
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:58,480
Let's say that there's some, we found some wire from the wreckage in the plane.

455
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:02,480
We'll make an arm that comes up that will hold whatever we're trying to burn.

456
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:07,480
And sure enough, by keeping the tinder steady, the hotspot soon ignites.

457
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:08,480
Ow!

458
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:10,480
Oh, the thing's burning my hand.

459
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:11,480
It's hot.

460
00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:12,480
It's smoking.

461
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:13,480
It's fire.

462
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:15,480
So the can can.

463
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:22,480
You just want to hope your doomed plane was carrying a large cargo of chocolate and soda.

464
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:33,480
Here's the trick I'm sure you've all been waiting for.

465
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:37,480
This is, how do you start a fire with a flashlight?

466
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,480
The next myth is a big favorite with survival expert Ron Hood.

467
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:47,480
He knows only too well the benefits of being able to make a cooking fire in the wilderness.

468
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:48,480
Here's the trick.

469
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:50,480
Steel wool.

470
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:57,480
What we want to do now is touch it across these contacts and see if we can make a contact that'll ignite some of the steel wool.

471
00:30:57,480 --> 00:30:59,480
Looky there.

472
00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:00,480
Fire.

473
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:01,480
Ouch.

474
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:03,480
It's hot too.

475
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:07,480
It's like taking candy from a baby, right?

476
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:08,480
Ha!

477
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:09,480
Ha!

478
00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:10,480
Wrong.

479
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:11,480
Wrong.

480
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:12,480
Oh.

481
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,480
It's, yeah, it was close.

482
00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:16,480
Ah!

483
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:21,480
I didn't like you stupid.

484
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:23,480
That's hot.

485
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:26,480
You're getting sparks.

486
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:28,480
Yes, yes.

487
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:31,480
Oh no, no, no, no, no.

488
00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:36,480
Eventually, as starvation begins to set in, they get their precious ember.

489
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:37,480
There's smoke.

490
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:39,480
There's definitely smoke.

491
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:44,480
Smoke, they've got plenty of.

492
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,480
There's no shortage of smoke.

493
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:51,480
And on the edge of asphyxiation, they get fire.

494
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:55,480
Hey, hey, hey, hey, proof of concept, yay!

495
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:56,480
Cool.

496
00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:58,480
We did it.

497
00:31:58,480 --> 00:31:59,480
Fire.

498
00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:00,480
Fire.

499
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:01,480
We've made it put this out before Jamie sees it.

500
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:02,480
Don't worry guys.

501
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:05,480
Jamie's a little preoccupied right now.

502
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,480
Hit it, Brian.

503
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:16,480
That engine still won't start.

504
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,480
The long day is taking its toll.

505
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,480
I can see for the first time some grease on your nose.

506
00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:25,480
Yeah, well, believe it or not, it does happen.

507
00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:28,480
I think you've got to feel water out there.

508
00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:30,480
Well, I'm trying to fit so.

509
00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:32,480
It's rope, it's off right there.

510
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:38,480
Finally, as darkness descends, a ray of light.

511
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:48,480
Wow.

512
00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:52,480
It will run good enough to do what they want to do.

513
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:53,480
Woo!

514
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:57,480
Right, they've got a working engine and a lethally spinning propeller.

515
00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:03,480
Now, how are they going to turn half a plane into a realistic target aircraft?

516
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:06,480
We're going to do that by making a frame out of tube steel.

517
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:13,480
Lots of cutting and welding a little bit so we'll make it so that we can bolt tail end after tail end onto this framework,

518
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:21,480
as well as we'll make this so that we can put appropriate weight on it to simulate what the real target plane would be like.

519
00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:27,480
Soon the guys looking like a couple of cut price superheroes are cutting and welding up a storm.

520
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:33,480
Love welding, that's why I love welding.

521
00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:35,480
You come in in the morning and there's just a pile of steel.

522
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:40,480
Leave at the end of the day and there's a bloody airplane.

523
00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:46,480
Well, a rudimentary airplane anyway, complete with wings and landing gear.

524
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:53,480
The whole thing will have to weigh the same as a fully fueled light aircraft, about 2,500 pounds.

525
00:33:58,480 --> 00:33:59,480
What happened?

526
00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:00,480
We need to add...

527
00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:04,480
What happened is we need to add some weight up here.

528
00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:06,480
Well, it held.

529
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:12,480
At the moment, the whole thing weighs just 500 pounds.

530
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:19,480
But after a successful raid on a few local gyms, they find another 2,000 pounds.

531
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:27,480
The hope is that when the actual experiment occurs, this target plane will react the same way a real plane would.

532
00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:33,480
In other words, a real plane wouldn't be just anchored to the ground, it wouldn't be super light.

533
00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:37,480
It's going to react to this attacking plane.

534
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,480
We've got a working engine, we've got the fuselage we need.

535
00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:44,480
We just have to work out and crash these things into each other without killing ourselves.

536
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:52,480
Yeah, well, to replicate the actual physics of the real event, we need to make these two devices weigh the same as the planes they represent.

537
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,480
And they've got to travel at like 30 miles an hour.

538
00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,480
What if we did it on train tracks?

539
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:04,480
That sounds like a good idea. I think there are some railway areas around here that we could use.

540
00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:08,480
And we just need some kind of railway car platform to put them on.

541
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:09,480
You got it.

542
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,480
So here's the plan. The engine will be mounted on a railway car.

543
00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:24,480
With the engine roaring and the prop spinning at 1500 rpm, our runaway plane will taxi along the track straight into the target rig.

544
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:29,480
Here at the railway museum, they have what they call service carts, which might be perfect for our needs.

545
00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:39,480
A four-wheeled cart that rides on train tracks that we can bolt our engine structure to and be safely in the distance, and yet we know it's going to hit its target perfectly.

546
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,480
Adam soon finds his shred sled.

547
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:44,480
Oh, it's perfect.

548
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:46,480
This is perfect.

549
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:48,480
It's perfect, apparently.

550
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:55,480
I don't want to motorize this thing. I want it to take off just because the propeller's spinning, just like a real plane would.

551
00:35:55,480 --> 00:36:02,480
Thing is, the rig will need rails to run on and sufficient room to build up speed, say about a thousand feet.

552
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:07,480
But where on earth is Adam going to find that much railway track just lying around?

553
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:09,480
This looks like the perfect stuff.

554
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:17,480
Once again, it's off to that myth-busting mecca, the abandoned naval facility, where there's a tangle of rail line.

555
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:22,480
Things I really like about it are it's nice and remote. It's not near any other buildings or anything.

556
00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:28,480
We can all be way back there when this happens. It's a nice straight shot, which we haven't seen here before.

557
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:30,480
A thousand feet of straight track.

558
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:44,480
Alright, so this last technique is going to freak your mind out. It's getting fire from ice.

559
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:52,480
And the idea is to take a block of ice, rub it until you get the shape of a lens, and then take it in the sun's rays and focusing them into your kenneling.

560
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:58,480
For this myth, our castaways have left their desert island and are stranded in an icy wasteland.

561
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:02,480
But to make fire, any old ice won't do.

562
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:04,480
Alright, so you guys are looking for some clear ice, right?

563
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:05,480
Yeah!

564
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:06,480
Look at that!

565
00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:08,480
How long does it take to make something like this?

566
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:15,480
These take three days to freeze. The fourth day, it's done. You let it cure for one day inside the tank where they're made.

567
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:21,480
These specially produced clear ice blocks are used for creating ice sculptures.

568
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:25,480
So where does our ice alchemist stand on this myth?

569
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:32,480
When you first said that, I said no way. But then I have thought about what you're saying and where it sounds right and principal.

570
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:34,480
I just don't know about the physics of that.

571
00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:40,480
Remember when you were a kid and those endless summer days spelled death for ants?

572
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:48,480
Antiside relies on refraction. The convex shape of the lens bends sunlight into a single hot point.

573
00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:54,480
A lens made of ice should work the same way. What could possibly go wrong?

574
00:37:54,480 --> 00:38:02,480
It's crystal clear that this ice is their best chance of sculpting a lens which can focus sunlight and make fire.

575
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:04,480
Now, how do you get it so clear?

576
00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:13,480
What we do is we agitate the water with 13 pounds of air pressure and it causes all the atoms and molecules to fly around inside this block.

577
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:16,480
Only the most pure freeze from the outside in.

578
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,480
So all the impurities kind of collect in the middle.

579
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:24,480
Exit in the middle and we suck it all out with a pump and then fill it back up with a filtered water.

580
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:28,480
The boys go dubster diving for some large chips off the old block.

581
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:34,480
Back in the frozen wastes, Carrie starts sculpting herself a lens.

582
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:40,480
I hope this is really going to work. This is the most interesting idea of all the fire starting methods I could think of.

583
00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:44,480
I mean if you're someplace frozen you need a fire more than anything else.

584
00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,480
Trouble is she isn't someplace frozen.

585
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:51,480
More and more slippery as it melts.

586
00:38:52,480 --> 00:39:02,480
To make matters worse, Carrie finds that getting a lens shape without precision instruments is hard work, even for a sculptor like herself.

587
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,480
Man, this can be harder than I thought.

588
00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:08,480
Grant meanwhile has turned his back on tools.

589
00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:15,480
Since we don't have a machine shop out here in the wilderness, I'm starting off by making a round shape with the rock.

590
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:19,480
Oh, Jesus, it's cold.

591
00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:25,480
Actually, it seems to work pretty good and you can see magnification.

592
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:31,480
And I think that that is what is going to help us focus the sun's rays. I think I'm almost ready to try it.

593
00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:35,480
Outside it's hot, bright and melty.

594
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,480
Quick, before we lose our lens.

595
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:41,480
I'm getting a pretty good pinpoint of light here.

596
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:45,480
A skin test shows that the hotspot is, well, hot.

597
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:51,480
Fire from ice may not be as crazy as it sounds.

598
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:56,480
It's a glimmer of hope for our frozen castaways.

599
00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:00,480
But the sun's heat is a double-edged sword.

600
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:04,480
As the lenses melt, the hotspots dissipate.

601
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:07,480
My lens is getting smaller and smaller.

602
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:09,480
Looks like it's back to the drawing board.

603
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:14,480
One idea we had was making a mold of a pre-existing lens.

604
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:16,480
So I have this magnifying glass.

605
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:26,480
What I'm going to do is build a box around it, fill it with silicone, make a silicone mold, cut it out, fill it with water, freeze it, and then we'll have a ready-made lens.

606
00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:32,480
Tori's hoping a perfect lens will provide the requisite spark before the ice melts.

607
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:35,480
Meanwhile, Kari's going global.

608
00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:42,480
I'm working with the idea that a perfect sphere is going to focus the light into a tiny little spot.

609
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:45,480
So, I mean, I think this is pretty good.

610
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:49,480
I mean, for doing it by hand, I'm not going to get it too much more perfect.

611
00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:55,480
Tori and Grant will try and replicate the special method of freezing they picked up in San Francisco ice.

612
00:40:55,480 --> 00:41:00,480
And if we just keep agitating this as it freezes, hopefully we'll get a clear lens.

613
00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:06,480
Industrial ice makers use pressurized air to agitate the water, which is filtered during freezing.

614
00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:14,480
Grant and Tori make do with a household freezer, an electric massager, and some crossed fingers.

615
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,480
Check it out though. Look at the water.

616
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:19,480
That's good. That's more like what we saw at the place.

617
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:29,480
The following morning sees our Arctic castaways out in the California sun for one final shot at conjuring fire from ice.

618
00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:36,480
Kari's crystal ball has the advantage of size, shrinking the melt factor.

619
00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:40,480
The boy's precision lens is anything but.

620
00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:45,480
It's not very clear, in fact. It's pretty far from clear.

621
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:47,480
We've got a light blocking device.

622
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:49,480
Then Kari comes to the rescue.

623
00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:51,480
I'm smoking. I'm smoking.

624
00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:52,480
What?

625
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:53,480
I'm smoking.

626
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:54,480
Oh!

627
00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:56,480
That's going to do it.

628
00:41:56,480 --> 00:41:58,480
Nice work, Kari, buddy.

629
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:01,480
Matches? Who needs them?

630
00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:12,480
Today's the day the Mythbusters hope to shred a plane.

631
00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:21,480
They've got a thousand feet of track, an aircraft engine welded to a railway cart, and a target plane just waiting to feel the kiss of the propeller blades.

632
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:28,480
It's shaping up to be one of their most spectacular and dangerous experiments.

633
00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:31,480
I just love doing that.

634
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:37,480
But before the mayhem and mania, the Monday, they have to clear the runway for takeoff.

635
00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:41,480
The track seems like it's really nice. It's in good shape.

636
00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:45,480
But there's a lot of dirt built up around it.

637
00:42:45,480 --> 00:42:53,480
And we need to have it clear so that the railway wheels can get down in the groove and seat properly.

638
00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:57,480
But there are rumblings on the chain gate.

639
00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,480
Only another 800 feet to go.

640
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:02,480
Dude, this is going to get old real fast.

641
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:04,480
Sorry, I'm already there.

642
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:06,480
Okay, this is not how they sold this to me.

643
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:11,480
They told me today there's going to be airplanes and there's going to be a crash and everything's going to explode and it's going to be really cool.

644
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:17,480
Say what I got here. Adam handed me a pickaxe in a room and actually said put your back into it.

645
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:22,480
A derailment would spell disaster and foreman Jamie isn't happy with the Hoenn.

646
00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:26,480
It's the little kind of rough spots that they glazed over.

647
00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:30,480
I mean, we got it more or less cleared. We could make the run.

648
00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:35,480
But I want to make sure that it's as pristine as it can be because this thing has no shocks.

649
00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:40,480
You know, it's going 30 miles an hour and it's steel to steel.

650
00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:42,480
We need to have a smooth bed.

651
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:49,480
If Jamie's a little edgy, it's probably because he's done the math and understands the phenomenal physics involved.

652
00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:51,480
Does that feel okay Jamie?

653
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:52,480
No.

654
00:43:52,480 --> 00:44:00,480
This engine rig weighs one and a half tons as much as a real light plane and it'll be traveling at 30 miles per hour when it hits the target.

655
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:04,480
Generating about 800,000 foot pounds of force.

656
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:11,480
Grants fashioned a remote cutoff switch. Just push a button and the engine is immediately disabled.

657
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:13,480
So up is kill?

658
00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:15,480
Yeah. Up is go.

659
00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:16,480
Oh, okay.

660
00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:17,480
And then down is safe.

661
00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:18,480
Cool. Good job.

662
00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:19,480
Thanks.

663
00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:26,480
That and 10,000 pounds of sand should ensure that our runaway plane doesn't run away.

664
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:34,480
Joe Raycow is an aerospace specialist who's studied the aftermath of thousands of air disasters.

665
00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:36,480
Now he's helping cause one.

666
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:54,480
What we're looking at after impact is that the entire mass could slide as far as 20 feet and also pieces of the fuselage or pieces of the propeller could in theory fly on the order of miles given the energy that they have at impact.

667
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:58,480
That's a pretty sound argument for being a long way away.

668
00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:00,480
That's it.

669
00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:03,480
A bunker is erected on the other side of the dry dock.

670
00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:05,480
Ah, it was nice now.

671
00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:09,480
We're nearing departure. Propeller and plane are lined up.

672
00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:16,480
Given what I'm seeing, we want to line this flat panel up exactly in line with the side of that cart and we'll be at the perfect relationship.

673
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:18,480
Okay, we're done. Let's anchor this puppy.

674
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:30,480
Time for a pilot run.

675
00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:36,480
We want to make sure all these systems work before doing the final test because we only have one shot at this.

676
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:43,480
That means everything has to be going as good as we can make it go so that that test is as accurate as possible.

677
00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:48,480
For the rehearsal, they're going to keep the engine on a long leash, just in case.

678
00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:53,480
But it doesn't look like making a getaway.

679
00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:57,480
There seems to be a short in the kill switch circuit, Nova.

680
00:45:57,480 --> 00:45:58,480
I understand.

681
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:00,480
So now you got it?

682
00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:01,480
Yeah.

683
00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:02,480
Okay.

684
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:03,480
That seems good.

685
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:04,480
Okay, cool.

686
00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:15,480
The engine starts taxiing, reaching a dizzying nine miles per hour.

687
00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:19,480
Hope it has more grunt than that, or this flight will be canceled.

688
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:20,480
It's more power.

689
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:22,480
Yeah, I think it does.

690
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,480
Remember, they're aiming for around 30 miles per hour.

691
00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:27,480
Do you want Grant to kill the engine?

692
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:30,480
Yeah, go ahead and kill the engine. Let's see if it does it.

693
00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:32,480
Copy, killing the engine.

694
00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:36,480
Hey!

695
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:38,480
That worked beautifully.

696
00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:39,480
Yay!

697
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:48,480
This engine is leaking at every possible seal internally and externally.

698
00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:52,480
Whether or not this was the last thing we're going to do to it, it's the last thing we're going to do to it.

699
00:46:54,480 --> 00:46:58,480
Captain Earl and co-pilot Brian goose up the throttle.

700
00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:06,480
This time, a runaway success.

701
00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:12,480
Go ahead and kill it, Grant.

702
00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:18,480
Man, it was tugging at the reins. It was trying to be let loose. It was beautiful to see.

703
00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:26,480
I have no doubt that once we release this thing, it's going to be like a freight train, very much like a freight train, and that it's going to work.

704
00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:29,480
It's crunch time.

705
00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:30,480
Literally.

706
00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:37,480
Everyone takes cover.

707
00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:39,480
That is a monster of an engine.

708
00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:44,480
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard Mythbusters Flight 101 to Shred City.

709
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:46,480
Oh my God!

710
00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:49,480
Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff.

711
00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:51,480
Come on, baby.

712
00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:54,480
Come on, stay there. Keep going.

713
00:47:56,480 --> 00:47:57,480
Come on!

714
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:00,480
I'm going to choke.

715
00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:04,480
Yeah!

716
00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:09,480
Contact.

717
00:48:09,480 --> 00:48:11,480
I'm awaiting an all clear.

718
00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:16,480
Now that is a shredded plane.

719
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:21,480
The engine performed perfectly.

720
00:48:21,480 --> 00:48:27,480
The high speed camera shows the prop blade slicing through the fuselage as though it was made of cardboard.

721
00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:30,480
Trust me, you wouldn't want a window seat.

722
00:48:31,480 --> 00:48:34,480
That's exactly the slice pattern we see in the picture.

723
00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:39,480
I mean, it's a little bit different, but we see that the airplane...

724
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:40,480
It's a little bit different.

725
00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:42,480
I'm so excited, man!

726
00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:44,480
That's exactly what we see in the picture.

727
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:49,480
It's vertical slices from the blade. That's just stunned.

728
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:51,480
I think we lined it up pretty good.

729
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:53,480
Dude!

730
00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:54,480
Give me some skin.

731
00:48:55,480 --> 00:48:56,480
Ow!

732
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:02,480
So what's the verdict?

733
00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:05,480
Well, this one I call plausible.

734
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:13,480
In fact, both versions of the story that we tested, we were able to replicate slices on our target plane that really closely matched what we saw in the photograph.

735
00:49:13,480 --> 00:49:18,480
Yeah, and since we did the experiment, our researchers have authenticated that photograph.

736
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:22,480
It was a case of prop damage and it occurred on an airfield in Australia.

737
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:24,480
Well, then that would be myth-confirmed.

738
00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:25,480
Myth-confirmed.