PILOT SPIN
Pilot Zone => Pilot Zone => Topic started by: Jaybird180 on September 14, 2022, 12:55:08 PM
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A man driving his car on the highway at 60MPH notices the fly buzzing around the car. He hits the passenger window button at exactly the right time and the fly is sucked out of the car.
Assuming it's wings aren't sheared off, what becomes of the fly?
Is it:
A: Able to convert the forward movement into excess thrust and execute a zoom climb? Or
B: Does it meet a wall of air resistance and falls on the ground at nearly the same place where it was ejected from the car? Or
C: It runs on a treadmill until it's legs are tired?
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It exits and promptly splatters on the following cars windshield.
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It exits and promptly splatters on the following cars windshield.
OBJECTION!
Assumed facts not in evidence (original scenario). ;D
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insuffient information
what car
which window
environmental conditions (e.g., wind, temperature, precip)
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I object to the phrase “sucked out of the car”.
The fly voluntarily flies through the window.
Let the direction of car travel be along axis x. Assume no wind outside. Assume no turbulent boundary layer, but a sharp instantaneous change of airspeed from zero inside the car along the x axis to 60 mph relative to the car. Assume the fly crosses that threshold along the y axis, perpendicular to the airflow. I don’t know how fly wings work so assume they work like airplane wings, needing forward angle of attack. It doesn’t matter what speed he is flying along the y axis, although that may affect his final resting spot.
Therefore:
A. There is no forward movement to use as “excess thrust”. The forward movement is relative to the ground and the fly knows nothing of the ground. He only interacts with the air. His “forward movement” is along the y axis. All he knows is he encountered a sudden wind sheer 90 degrees to his direction of travel.
B. Pretty much. The sudden crosswind likely flips him all around and he falls to the ground (now involving the z axis) somewhat near where he left the car, but farther along the x axis, because his forward movement (in the x direction) does becomes relevant with respect to the ground at that point. But not too far because as soon as he leaves the car the force moving him along the x axis ends and his inertia is quickly met with air and ground friction. The trajectory of his trip to the ground within the x-z plane and maybe a little in the y direction can be calculated with a formula involving coefficients of friction, gravity, the mass of the fly, and the speeds of the air and his initial exit, but I’m too lazy to work that up for you.
C. Flies have legs?
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Is the fly the result of a transporter experiment gone horribly wrong?
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Is the car on a treadmill?
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When a fly exits a moving car through a narrow window opening, it is carried helplessly through the rapidly moving air, which is more powerful than the fly, so like a Cirrus with the chute pulled, the fly drifts or tumbles until it can right itself outside the stream of moving air and fly away normally. That is assuming its initial encounter with the air currents around the car does not slam it to earth, damaged, never to fly again.
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Is the fly the result of a transporter experiment gone horribly wrong?
No. If that were the case, the fly would be a passenger-sized man/fly hybrid and would be wearing a seat belt.
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No. If that were the case, the fly would be a passenger-sized man/fly hybrid and would be wearing a seat belt.
I was thinking if this happened in 1958.
(http://www.youwoncannes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/you-won-cannes-the-fly-1958.jpg)
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I was thinking if this happened in 1958.
(http://www.youwoncannes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/you-won-cannes-the-fly-1958.jpg)
I remember that scene! Loved that movie, better than the remake.
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insuffient information
what car
which window
environmental conditions (e.g., wind, temperature, precip)
The car and window were provided. Everyone knows that everything in aviation happens in standard day environmental conditions ;D
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I object to the phrase “sucked out of the car”.
What is the basis of the objection? This isn’t a Freudian car. Maybe Bernoullian, in which the fly is “blown” out of the car, again making it a Freudian car.
Flies and legs: yes they’re retracts. ;D
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The car and window were provided. Everyone knows that everything in aviation happens in standard day environmental conditions ;D
ok the window was provided, but you didn't specify make/model of the car.
was the top up, down, or welded in position?
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What is the basis of the objection? This isn’t a Freudian car. Maybe Bernoullian, in which the fly is “blown” out of the car, again making it a Freudian car.
Flies and legs: yes they’re retracts. ;D
So “suck” and “blow” which are opposites, mean the same thing, at least in the Freudian context. Kind of like “flammable” and “inflammable” mean the exact same thing. Interesting. In fact, maybe in all contexts as any time something moves toward a vacuum it has pressure on the other side, the Bernoullian to which you refer.
The basis of my objection is that it’s not applicable when a vehicle is not pressurized. Sudden explosive decompression at the flight levels can indeed “blow” someone out of an airplane, (call it “suck” if you want), but even at speeds faster than 60 mph in an unpressurized aircraft, standing right next to an open door will never “suck” you out. I have personally confirmed this in real life. There isn’t enough Bernoullian difference to move a human sized mass which is in contact with the machine.
I suppose you could argue maybe there is in the case of the fly. It’s not standing on the floor. Nevertheless I object to the trope “sucked out” of airplanes as it is overused by uneducated media to refer to any accidental departure of a person or people from a plane at altitude involving breech of the cabin, when often it isn’t being “sucked out” that ejected the hapless souls, but detachment of structural components.
Edit: Retracts, lol!
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Kind of like “flammable” and “inflammable” mean the exact same thing.
Did we see the same show recently talking about this? I don't recall the show ATM, sleep deprivation.
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Did we see the same show recently talking about this? I don't recall the show ATM, sleep deprivation.
No, I don’t recall anything like that.
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Was the fly a tailwheel, or nose?