| Hello, Bob!
Great job on the AVweb newsletter....I look
forward to it every Monday morning!
Regarding the news article about the Russian fellow
who was arrested, and found to have an "aviation cannon" and
flight recorder tape ... My best guess about an "aviation
cannon" is it's basically a standard cannon except you need to take
out a huge loan to buy it, then an even bigger loan to maintain it, and
another one to modify it per FAA Airworthiness Directives.
I can only guess the flight recorder tape was to be
used in aerodynamic studies of flying fish.
Hey, I gave it a shot!
Again, great job on the newsletter!
Dave Buck
Having watch the movie the "Flight of the
Phoenix" many times, isn't an aviation cannon the starter system
that uses a shotgun shell type charge that started the rotation of the
engine. The F-4 Phantom had some sort of "cannon charge"
system to start the rotation of the turbines for a ground start without
an APU. When the Thunderbirds used the F-4, I saw a ground start at an
airshow at Scott AFB in Illinois. The ramp was obscured in smoke from 6
F-4's all using this system to start at once. One of the aircraft did
not get started and the ground crew had to hustle an APU start cart out
to get him going.
Rick Humphrey
Any old fisherman could figure this one out. An
"aviation cannon" is a device used by the Russians in place of
an airport beacon. They call it a "Visually Obtained
Reference" ("VOR"). In lieu of a traditional beacon which
would require a constant source of electricity (a scarce and unreliable
commodity in the FSU), the cannon fires shielded flares which spin at
the rate of 20 revolutions per minute, alternately displaying green,
then white light. It works well as long as someone is there to fire off
a new round every minute.
Of course, every fisherman knows that fish are
attracted to bright lights. Obviously this guy was going to fire off the
VOR, wait for trout to home in on the signal (looking for that $100
hamburger at the airport cafe), then use the explosives (the "DuPont
Lure") to stun them. The CVR tape was to be used on any trout which
were too large to be stunned by the explosives. The fisherman just turns
on the tape player and places one speaker in the water. As we all are
aware, cockpit conversation is highly soporific. The trout fall asleep
almost immediately. As long as the fisherman took the precaution of
wearing ear plugs, he will still be awake to net the fish while they
dream of precision approaches.
Mike Boren
The guy uses the FDR to record the AOA, heading,
airspeed and fin angle of the fish as they come flying out of the water
under the explosive forces. <g>
As for the "aviation cannon", isn't that what they use at some
airports to create noise to scare away birds?
Ann Azevedo
Hi,
I'll enter my guess for the AVweb mug... I
think it's one of those bird control things... that operate
automatically, swing around and blast off a loud boom to frighten away
flocks of birds. I don't know what types of charges they use, I know
many are compressed air here in the US, but in a foreign country... who
knows. My other guess would be his referring to Robert Crandall formerly
of American Airlines... but he would have been considered a carry-on and
would never have accepted anything but first-class... :-)
So ... how'd I do?
Richard Barlow
You know...! An aviation "Canon"... Uh
... for instance, "Thou shall maintain thy airspeed lest the earth
shall arise to smite thee!" or howzabout, "Forgetteth not to
lower thy gear when the good earth approacheth near!" There are
many others! :-)
Can I please have my mug now????
Thanks anyway!
Rick Barlow
Obviously we was angling for FLYING fish. The tape
... to get the flying fish excited with the sounds of Wagner. The cannon
was to strap to the wing while dog fighting the fish. You should have
seen the one that got away.
David A. Kleinman
Answer to your question as to how the Russian
soldier was going to use the flight recorder to catch fish is
elementary. Attach tape player to an underwater mike and play the
recorded tape. Before long the fish would be bored out of their minds
and would chase lures to kill the monotony. The explosives were to wake
up the fish so that they could listen to the tape.
An aviation cannon is used to shoot flying fish.
Why else would you take a aviation cannon charge fishing?
Jack Whitney
Well obviously, he was going to use the flight
recorder tape to play back high frequency sounds which automatically
fire the aviation cannon which contains the explosive charges. That way
he can "stun fish" from a safe distance. Oh, and an aviation
cannon is a rocket like device which is used to help GA aircraft takeoff
on those days when the density altitude would preclude a
"normal" takeoff - sort of like a JATO.
Tom McGehee
Okay, here's my attempt at a coffee mug...
The charges, obviously, are used to stun fish. The
problem lies on how to detonate the charges, underwater. Since FDR tape
is magnetic, you could use an aviation cannon to align the magnetic
particles on the tape. This FDR tape is wound around the charges,
thereby setting off an electromagnetic pulse which sets off the
explosives. The aviation cannon charge is simply a percussive device
which is used to align the magnetic particles in the magnetic tape,
similar to magnetizing a metal rod by whacking it with a hammer.
Another possibility is that he was selling those
objects to a terrorist group that happens to own a fishing dacha near
the Black Sea, you know, Black Sea Boris' Fishing Adventure and Chechen
Arms Sales ... where 1 kilo of C4 will get you 10 kilos of sturgeon
caviar.
Illo A. Neri
The connection asked for in the below article is
clear: flying fish. The data recording is for a CFR (code of fishing
regulations) Part 135 operation, and is purely for research use. The
cannon is to hunt the little suckers. Glad I could help.
Kelly Bakst
An aviation cannon is Russiaspeak for a small
handheld "Stinger" missle launcher. The aviation recorder tape
is used to attract a certain bread of fish called avfish. Avfish are attracted
to the voices clear and slow speaking pilots and controllers. Our dear
solider was planning on playing the tape while at the seashore. Avfish
are similar to flying fish and have a propensity to jump out of the
water during feeding, thus the need for the aviation cannon. The other
explosives are, however, only needed should the aviation cannon fail its
preflight inspection.
Byron Blake
Coming from Central Europe, and if my fading memory
is correct, "aviation cannon" may be interpreted as a large
bore handgun, kinda starter pistol with different colour charges to
signal aircraft at night from the ground. The charge, after activation,
will burn a very nasty hole into just about everything, including the
unfortunate pilot's back ... if hit.
As for the CVR tape, I can only speculate that it
may be used to string up small fish thru their gills ... then again, it
was in sight, it was available, it was taken from "a" desk,
since Russian soldiers will "obtain" anything that may
remotely be useful or sellable - (this information is was acquired
during WWII, and was called "zabra" in Russian. ;-)
Csaba Gaal
Makes sense to me the tape with predetermined
locations of his favorite fishing spots is downloaded from his computer.
Which are uploaded to one of his kamikaze model airplane's computers.
Once the programming is complete this soldier places the explosives in
the airplane for delivery to one of his favorite fishing holes. Then he
prepares the aviation cannon for launch, the payload is too much for a
normal takeoff, by placing the aircraft on the aviation cannon and
subsequent delivery of the payload to the fishing hole. The aviation
cannon is much like the early catapults.
Note: This leaves time for much needed vodka to
numb the arctic cold and get the dipping net ready for the days catch.
Bart Vosseller
My guess is that he is planning to bore the fish to
death - have you listened to some flight recordings?
R. McDowall
Ladies and gentlemen,
The (disgruntled) man obviously tried to hijack the
aircraft and possibly attempt suicide by forcing a CFIT; imagine the
confusion when the local accident investigators found out that they had
TWO flight recorder tapes to deal with...
Oh, and the aviation cannon? A devilish device used
to scare birds off the airport premises... You wouldn't want to have
12-gauge slugs joining the other aircraft on short final, would you?
Best regards,
Perttu Aho
Gentlemen,
The recording tape is made from high tensile
strength Mylar or Polyester, and being only 1 mil thick, affords a very
lengthy, compact 'rope' for tying the booty together into one long
string. A simple knot around the tail of the fish, then the next.
The "Aviation Cannon" is a flare gun, due
to its large caliber. Anything with that large of bore is considered a
"Cannon".
Elementary!
Regards
Hans Neubert
Guys, et al:
The flight recorder tape is metallic, and when you
connect that to a field phone, and then run the generator for the phone
(which makes the other end ring), you electrify the fish, which stuns
them. They float, you scoop, you eat. Very important in third world
countries!
An aviation cannon is what is used now a days
instead of machine guns. So many Soviet aircraft have 23mm cannons on up
for air to air engagements, and they are also pretty awesome for the air
to ground missions!
Thanks for the good news reporting and the humor!
Chris Fairchild
It seems obvious to me that the soldier had
intended to catch a fish in advance of the stunning so that he could
release it fully rigged up with the flight recorder. This way, he would
be able to analyze the post stunning data and adjust the charge for his
next explosion accordingly, based upon the flight of the rigged up fish.
This is one smart fisherman.
An aviation cannon is a bird scare devise used
routinely at airports across the country.
Jon Oesterreich
It's so obvious!! The guy was going to use the tape
to reel in his fish after he stunned them. Everyone knows that the tape
is virtually indestructible, so he could easily land any and all
comatose whoppers.
As for the aviation cannon - I believe it was a
mispelling. It should have read Aviation Dannon, as in Yogurt. Yogurt is
very good for hunger while one waits for the "depth charges"
to go off. And of course, aviation yogurt is different than the
supermarket variety. Aviation brands are: very small portions, that
barely fit in their container, usually have been on the shelf for longer
than 3 years (waiting to be transported), very expensive, frequently
have peanuts mixed in, and are almost always produced in Atlanta,
Chicago or New York.
Dave Bloomquist
To AVweb,
As we all know, the information stored on a flight
recorder is incredibly fascinating. Everyone knows this, including the
fish. This Russian guy was going to play the flight recorder tape
through an underwater speaker. Fish within miles would not be able to
resist the uncontrollable draw toward the flight recordings. Once a
large group of fish gathered around the speaker, he would light the fuse
and toss the missile charge overboard. Fishing with explosives is not
only efficient, it's great fun!
For the second part: an "aviation cannon"
would include weapons similar to what the USAF carries aboard AC-130
ground attack models. A 105 or 120 mm howitzer can be fired from the
aircraft. Talk about shooting from the "high ground."
Sincerely,
Greg Yamamoto
Our Russian soldier friend was really looking to
stun fish, he may have tried to get them any way he could. I believe
aviation cannons are used airports and other places where there is a lot
of interaction between aircraft and birds, to frighten them from the
area. He also may have been looking to convince birds who had just
scooped up fish into dropping them. The aviation cannon could have been
used to do this, as could a tape recording of the cannon going off.
The more ominous side of me says that if he was
planning a hijacking, the flight recorder tape could be switched with
that already in the CVR to mask his deed.
Kristopher Rich
Clearly the flight recorder tape was to serve as a
navigation aid to the fishing spot that was pointed out to him by a
member of air-crew that he was riding with at the time!
As for what an "aviation cannon" is,
clearly this person had access to a depot which services the TU-95
"Bear" aircraft, which is listed by numerous sources as having
2 NR-23 23mm cannon in the tail.
Robyn Rissell
1 — flight recorder tape: It's an endless-loop
tape (like the kind used in older answering machines) on which the
would-be fisherman could have recorded sounds designed to attract fish (clickings,
whistles, repeated tappings, etc) and then attached to a waterproof
speaker and lowered into the water. He then could have had his
"fish call" going non-stop without having to rewind or flip a
tape.
2 — aviation cannon: http://www.aviation.ru/gun/index.html
which is a review of Russian Aviation Gunnery, lists several different
hand-carried or portable cannon used for anti-aircraft purposes. I also
seem to remember something about a gun-like signaling device used at
airfields which fired a single shot before having to be reloaded, but I
can neither drag it out of my memory nor find a reference to it
anywhere.
All in all, I'm guessing the fellow was NOT fishing
for the sport of it. ;)
Derek Wade
Sirs-
Maybe when you fire an aviation cannon into the
water, everything becomes a flying fish and you then need a flight data
recorder to track where they land. (As an experienced sportsman, he
probably already had the recorder mounted on his boat and just needed a
fresh tape for this outing.)
On a recent trip outside of Hong Kong, I did see a
sign near the waterfront noting that fishing with dynamite was
prohibited. Maybe all this isn't that implausible.
Hey, it's only a guess.
Clif Hotvedt
Obviously, he had recorded the sound of mosquitoes
flying. He planned to insert the tape into the VCR, cross wire it to
external speakers attached to an AN-2, and have it fly low over the lake
on which he planned to fish.
The fish, hearing the sound, would believe that it
was lunch time and would gather so that he could more easily stun them
with an explosive charge.
(The aviation canon was included in case he decided
to fish from the plane while it flew low over the lake.)
Walt Panko
I don't know anything about an aviation cannon, but
it is easy to use a flight recorder tape to stun fish. Just *play* it!
The droning on of any captain's exploits would bore
just about any fish to death.
David Robinson
You guys at AVweb,
Everyone knows that if you place a CVR tape into a
tape recorder and play it backwards while fishing the fish will jump
into your boat! However this will only work in Russia, because English
backwards sounds like Russian.
p.s.- If that is not it then maybe he was just
trying to scare the fish out of the water by playing the CVR tape and
then the fish would think that an airplane was crashing and try to clear
out of the way thereby landing in his boat.
Scott Boette |
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