Testing an Egress Hammer (Life Hammer)

Might be interesting to go to a boneyard and trying the hammer while you're sitting in the plane.

BTW... Thanks for the tip on keeping the Stratus in the glove compartment. I keep thinking it's going to slide off the glare shield.
 
You broke a mirror....you broke a mirror?!!!

Uh, oh.....seven nautical years of bad luck.....
 
Funny ... I thought SixPapaCharlie had "gone straight" until the pistol came out.
 
Kids....don’t try this stuff at home!
 
This would work. Especially in shark-infested water ditchings.
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You'll shoot your eye out, kid.
 
I appreciated the Gold Seal (non) CFI shirt. It makes the instruction in the video seem legit. Like, something I would pay money for.
 
That was like educational and stuff. And that coming from a fellow scientist. Doing science stuff.

Who are you and what did you do with Bryan.
 
The egress hammers and the snap striker are specifically designed for tempered glass that can be very difficult to break, even with a normal hammer, unless you can hit an edge. The egress hammer has a very sharp, hard point specifically to cause a small crater in tempered glass that causes the rest of the panel to fracture as the stresses of tempering are released. Most automotive glass, excluding the windshield, is tempered safety glass.

That said, I was rather pleasantly surprised how well it worked on the acrylic plastic windows.
 
"... the hammer will not cut the seat belt in one fell swoop." This is the only thing I've seen that takes two or more fell swoops. Usually it's one one.
BTW What is a fell swoop?
 
upstateny said:
BTW What is a fell swoop?
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To do something in one fell swoop is to do it suddenly or in a single, swift action.Fell here is an adjective meaning fierce, savage, cruel, or ruthless.This sense of fell is otherwise archaic, preserved mainly in this idiom.Apr 5, 2015

My observation is that @SixPapaCharlie struck the test windows on the outward face, and without any supporting structure. How do the striking implements work from the inside of an installed window?
 
upstateny said:
"... the hammer will not cut the seat belt in one fell swoop." This is the only thing I've seen that takes two or more fell swoops. Usually it's one one.
BTW What is a fell swoop?
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It originated from Shakespeare's Macbeth.
That is the only thing I know about that phrase.
I am a lot like Shakespeare so I use it a lot.
 
dude, u have golf clubs in the garage. that either means you play golf, or you DON'T play golf any more which means you probably have extra golf balls laying around and you clearly should have tried driving a golf ball into the glass to see if that breaks it. if it does, all u need to do is carry a 7 iron and some old pro V1's in the plane so you can basically hit the driving range at the same time you are saving the lives of your trapped passengers. win win. also I might be drunk.
 
eman1200 said:
dude, u have golf clubs in the garage. that either means you play golf, or you DON'T play golf any more which means you probably have extra golf balls laying around and you clearly should have tried driving a golf ball into the glass to see if that breaks it. if it does, all u need to do is carry a 7 iron and some old pro V1's in the plane so you can basically hit the driving range at the same time you are saving the lives of your trapped passengers. win win. also I might be drunk.
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Being drunk is fun.
 
Great video, Bryan! Awesome information on tools to help egress, and which are worthy to keep in the cockpit!

Also, Also good job Bryan for keeping your finger off the trigger of the 3rd egress device! Well... until the very end. But we’ll overlook that since it’s in the outtakes. :p
 
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I carry an emergencyegress hammer,that came with the plane,have never tested it,can only hope it works if needed.
 
Anymouse said:
Might be interesting to go to a boneyard and trying the hammer while you're sitting in the plane.

BTW... Thanks for the tip on keeping the Stratus in the glove compartment. I keep thinking it's going to slide off the glare shield.
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I keep it in the glove compartment but I have those extended tennis that mount to the window I'm no expert but I think it's a good idea to have those if the stratus is not going to have a direct you to the sky
 
Honest, your' BB gun was weak. Need something with a bigger hammer inside - like maybe a Judge... 45/410
I need to do a test like yours, but I often carry a Gerber Strongarm in the plane when headed to West Texas flying over the desert - it could definitely cut through a seatbelt and also has a glass breaker on the pommel end. It is also tough enough to use as a pry or wedge and there are some pretty decent youtube videos of it's toughness - a series called the gauntlet review. Also, at least here in Texas, it's a legal thing to carry it.
 
Thanks for the info. I have a pair of tinted safety glasses in the plane that I use for sun glasses when I fly.
 
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SixPapaCharlie said:
I keep it in the glove compartment but I have those extended tennis that mount to the window I'm no expert but I think it's a good idea to have those if the stratus is not going to have a direct you to the sky
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In our flight kit, the company provided a Stratus. We took it out because it was dead weight. It doesn't work where we do.
 
Well, in all seriousness if you have any more airplane "glass" to test and you ever want to try out some other kinds of egress devices in the 20 or 12 gauge varieties or some other caliber we can do it at my place.

I am also a scientist.
 
cowman said:
Well, in all seriousness if you have any more airplane "glass" to test and you ever want to try out some other kinds of egress devices in the 20 or 12 gauge varieties or some other caliber we can do it at my place.
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That sounds fun. Would be cool to see with a super slow-mo camera
 
Bryan, that was an awesome video. Fun and interesting. We had a similar discussion in the Diamond owners forum about the little orange hammer's ability to actually break the canopy. I put a copy of your video there for others to see.
 
That was a really good video, I had always wondered how well those would work.

Bryan, now you've made me want to run a similar test on windows for pressurized aircraft, which of course are much, much thicker. My general assumption is "I'm not getting them out."
 
I have a Taurus Raging Bull in .454 Casull (muzzle energy = AR15); perhaps I'll carry that when flying in a Cessna, to escape via the windshield. I'll put a placard that first responders must stay 1/4 mile from windshield whilst occupants are entrapped.
 
On a part 25 jet you won't get through a windshield, even with an axe. The side windows would probably bust right out but few aircraft have an opening big enough to actually climb through them.
 
Screw that sissy hammer...I have this tucked in the slot behind the co-pilot seat...
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I could probably cut through the fuselage, if I had to... LOL
 

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If you want to see how the little spring loaded device is supposed to work, go to a junk yard and push it against the corner of a car/truck window near the corner. The safety glass will shatter into small beads. You may want to ask the owner first.
 
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