[Greg Reimer 7376]

One of you made a humorous comment about a prius drop. Years ago, the dorkiest thing on the road, usually in everybody else's way was a volvo from the early-mid '80's. When you saw the people that drove them, it somehow makes sense. I heard of a guy who loved to go to the air show. During a good show with lots of aircraft fly bys and maneuvers that reflected massive G forces, an announcement kept being given over the PA-,"Attention spectators, a yellow 4 door volvo is parked in a restricted area. Please remove it before we have to". This was repeated several times about ten minutes between repeats of the same announcement, then a military transport chopper slowly passed in front of the grandstands hovering at about 20 feet. A cable coming out the hatch doors below had a yellow 4 door volvo hanging beneath it, whereby the PA announcer told the crowd that he was tired of repeating himself and has taken matters into his own hands. The helicopter began a slow vertical ascent until it and its dangling cargo had climbed about 4000 feet above the concrete surfaces of the air field, then the PA replayed the pilot's comments where the desired altitude for the drop had been achieved. The signal was given, then the cable was cut loose exposing the volvo to a 4000 foot freefall. It hit the ground and pancaked into a mass about two feet high. The hood bounced open, the engine flew out and flew about 20 feet in the air, landing on the roof. The crowd loved it. Probably the funniest thing at an air show I ever heard of.