Recalcitrant young passenger slaps sticker on outer fuselage while boarding
 

Yup, you heard it,

while boarding a NW flight a while back, a young man of 18 or 19 quickly placed the sticker just to the right of the door on the fuselage. It was a skateboard sticker, like the flag of California, except the words were California Skate Company. I checked and it was still there when we landed, which perversely amused me. He walked off the plane and nobody ever said a word.

Was this kid going out on a real limb? Just curious.

Going out on a limb...??? perhaps not, but definately inconsiderate. This actions is akin to taking a black marker or spray can and "tagging" the side of the aircraft, or a car. The kid who put the sticker on the side of the plane could be charged with vandalism.

could be dangerous! w/ a rear engine a/c [dc9,etc], what if it was ingested! i don't know what it takes to mess up an engine.

Destruction of property and vandalism. Absolutely unacceptable. Hope it doesn't damage the paint job.

i don't get it...why are you talking about this here?...why didn't you raise the issue when you saw it? the sticker could have been removed before takeoff.

My only question is if you saw him do it, why didn't you say anything to anybody?

What a stroke of good fortune that somehow the 3"x5" sticker didn't bring the plane down. Praise the Lord!

Forgive me if I fail to get up in arms over this. Good grief, a sticker isn't a time bomb.

Pppphhht.

Disclaimer: I am no longer a teenager.

The aircraft engines would not be phased by ingesting the sticker. Ground up walnut shells used to be shoot directly into the engines to clean the compressor blades. The soft, pliable sticker would burn.

I think I saw on TV that they launch frozen turkeys at the engines of the 777. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

Part of the certification process for jet engines involves shooting chicken or turkey carcasses directly into them. They have to keep running! A paper sticker wouldn't do anything to a commercial jet engine.

Bruce

I can see thawed birds being shot at engines to determine engine survivability. But frozen turkeys? That would be too much in that would equate to a ten to fifteen pound rock being shot into an engine. Undoubtedly that would do the engine in.

In fact, I think that there has been an urban legend surrounding this since the late 1940's when the Brits were purported to have called over here panicked to know that disaster awaitted in the skies, etc. The calm Americans purportedly said "thaw the turkey first". This is invariably accompanied by much knee-slapping and chortling.

Or, how about the Berlin tower controller was terse with the pilot and then asked him if he had ever flown to Berlin before. The pilot responds that yes, he had. But in a different type of Boeing aircraft (i.e., a B-17 bomber). Snort, chuckle, knee-slap. Only problem being that this supposedly happened just a few weeks ago, which would make the pilot around 80 or so.

These stories just go on and on like the Energizer Bunny.

Why didn't I say anything?

Good question. Having been raised in the city, I guess I am conditioned to this sort of thing. Apparently so, because this action did not set off any alarms in my conscience, where I felt compelled to turn the kid in. It did not seem as serious of a crime as the time I saw a man trying to pass counterfeit bills at the hardware store. The clerk didn't see it but I called the police and the man was arrested. Voila

Fallinasleep, why did I bring this up here?

Wake up!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif This is the General Travel Talk Forum. I asked a legitimate question, and this is the appropriate area.

Proof that it's never too late for a career change -- I wanna do that!

And this is just a physics textbook problem waiting to happen!

Imagine being part of a team in lab coats and goggles at the end of a runway, using a slingshot-like contraption (similar to how promo t-shirts used to get launched into the stands at the old Tiger Stadium) armed with turkey-tipped warheads. All in the name of good science. Awesome http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

E

I have no problem with your raising the issue here. It just seemed that the energy spent in typing up the anecdote on FT could have been better spent busting that kid at the scene of the crime or at least telling someone on the jetway to clean it up...

Actually, I can confirm that this kind of testing does take place. I have seen the footage of tests for the PW4000s and the GE90s with frozen turkeys. It is quite a sight!