Hovercraft? Leva pads? Anti Gravity? ala 1975
jmag ( jmag@home.com )
Tue, 14 Dec 1999 00:47:07 -0800
While working for a large well known aircraft manufacturer in so.cal who
was doing a structural test on the rudder portion of new jumbo jet about
25 years ago. It seems that in building up the test framework that would
have the pull cables and test equipment attached to the framework, the
engineers made a mistake and had the fixture about 6 foot to far south,
and for the plane to be set up in the hanger for all the tests, it would
have to be moved. as I recall the structure was about 50 feet square
and 50 feet tall.the plane had to be backed up into this test rig. the
bottom beams were about 12 to 18 inch heavy eye beams 50 ft per side
than going up, graduating to about 12" etc, etc, to about 6 inch beams
at the top. It looked like the structure for a high rise building
(Massive) My guess would be something like 100 tons? It took months to
construct this test setup. and it would take many more to disassemble
and reconstruct for a 6 foot move costing much in dollars and time, as
the company was pushing everyone to get the testing done as quickly as
possible to keep on schedule. The next thing that we noticed was a group
of people came in and bolted 4to6 round plates (about 12to16 inches
across and 4or5 inches thick with a thick rubber skirt around the bottom
so that it was about 1/2 inch above the concrete floor of the hanger.
they hooked these plates up to the shop air, aprox. 135 to 210 PSI and
said that they were going to move the test structure by floating it to
the proper position. We all thought they were nuts. However when they
turned on the air it made a whirring sound and air gushed out the bottom
of the plates and a few of these people (4to6) begin to push and the
100+ ton structure moved easily, the required distance. They unbolted
these plates and we never saw them again. I have heard of hover craft
etc. However I didn't think it possible to move such a massive and heavy
structure with plates and shop air? Black operations? Anti gravity? Just
a thought of many at the time. It sure pulled this defense contractors
chestnuts out of the fire at that time. Now a question. Is this
possible, with the setup and air pressure used?? (Comments) ???
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