Re: Fri 13th!!

[Jim Healey <Healey@chester.lerc.nasa.gov>]

>> yards ahead of me (no stopping for this one)!  I yell something
>> that I won't repeat right now and hit the brakes -----
>> SCREEEECH--- THUD!!  I tried to swerve onto the opposite shoulder,
>> but it still nailed me in the right front corner.   ARRRGH!    I
>> [blip]
>> of my 4000 CSQ--- WHOA!  The corner of the shelf hit the center of
>> my licsense plate and made a nice impression.  ;)   After I was
>
>You were lucky that you can actually see the trailer (and the things on 
>it) and the possibility of those things go bonkers.
>

>doing small hail and freezing rain. Suddenly, in font of my eyes, the 
>muffler mount (those small I-beam pices that holds the muffler works to 
>the car) of that damn Chevrolet fell, hitting right side of the bumper 
>and scaring the bejeesus out of my cousin who was sitting on passenger 
>side


Just the mount? Heck, I've been targeted by a radar guided kamikaze 
truck muffler with a relative closing speed of >130 mph . It made three
course corrections and I only made two.  It was launched by a truck in the
opposite lane of a long flat straight, skidded at me, then kicked into 
rotating mode (must have had a proximity sensor) then corrected and 
went for the kill - the stock aerobumper in front of the drivers wheel -
gouged a chunk out - car did a nice job of maintaining control considering the
effect was similiar to ramming a curb while I was in evasive maneuvers.

Bad way to begin that day :-)

Any landing you can walk away from . . . 

jim h
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