rottydaddy
En-Route
Never even heard of these guys before stumbling on their TV show... they are (very accomplished) martial-arts guys who do amazing demo breaks, and have found a niche on cable busting up man-made objects.
Tonight they were presented with a 172, and they claimed that "we will make it into a pile" and that they would use no tools. As in none.
This I had to see...
But the first discrepancy I saw with that was that the engine had been removed already... so they didn't have to pulverize that with their bare hands (or even break the bolts holding it to the mount).
Hard to say what else was loosened up, but I will say I was impressed with how they busted the windscreen and rear windows out by getting inside and pushing it out with their feet with much effort (it did not look "prepped"), and was quite surprised at how easily one of them managed to detach the vertical stab by body-slamming it from the side.
But they lost me when, after one of them failed to break the wing by leaping a few feet onto it from the FBO roof, they proceeded to take a sledgehammer to the lower strut attach point. Uh, guys... that's a tool, innit?
Naturally, with the strut compromised, on the second try the root attach points failed. Big deal... but I was hoping to see them maybe rip the ailerons off it or something.
No such luck- they tipped the plane on its side, removed the gear legs (which miraculously were suddenly not bolted in place), and called it done. Still looked like an airplane to me, not a "pile", even as it was pyro'd behind them as they walked away (can you say "totally over-used action-movie cliche"?)
OK, so what did I expect, etc... I know. But the worst part was the FAA rep on hand, who closed the segment by saying he had doubted their ability to pull it off but now had "tremendous respect" because they had completely destroyed it "with no tools".
Tonight they were presented with a 172, and they claimed that "we will make it into a pile" and that they would use no tools. As in none.
This I had to see...
But the first discrepancy I saw with that was that the engine had been removed already... so they didn't have to pulverize that with their bare hands (or even break the bolts holding it to the mount).
Hard to say what else was loosened up, but I will say I was impressed with how they busted the windscreen and rear windows out by getting inside and pushing it out with their feet with much effort (it did not look "prepped"), and was quite surprised at how easily one of them managed to detach the vertical stab by body-slamming it from the side.
But they lost me when, after one of them failed to break the wing by leaping a few feet onto it from the FBO roof, they proceeded to take a sledgehammer to the lower strut attach point. Uh, guys... that's a tool, innit?
Naturally, with the strut compromised, on the second try the root attach points failed. Big deal... but I was hoping to see them maybe rip the ailerons off it or something.
No such luck- they tipped the plane on its side, removed the gear legs (which miraculously were suddenly not bolted in place), and called it done. Still looked like an airplane to me, not a "pile", even as it was pyro'd behind them as they walked away (can you say "totally over-used action-movie cliche"?)
OK, so what did I expect, etc... I know. But the worst part was the FAA rep on hand, who closed the segment by saying he had doubted their ability to pull it off but now had "tremendous respect" because they had completely destroyed it "with no tools".