Illuminati-R-Us

All the way back to the 1950s . . .

Reading up on the X-15 programme, which included Scott Crossfield as a pilot, making 14 of the 199 test flights. But he flew other kinds of aircraft also - for example, he flew a North American F-100 Super Sabre.

While flying one of those, as described at his Wikipedia page, he once had to make a dead stick landing, and "was forced to use the wall of the NACA hangar as a makeshift brake".

That's a nice way to put it. Has anyone here ever had to use a wall as a makeshift brake? :P

Not yet.

I've never had to, but I've backed a trailer or two into the back wall of my dad's machine shop, and perhaps tagged a few different walls with his loader. (No real damage resulted in any of those incidents).

I tried using some cardboard boxes to stop myself on my cousin's bike once (no brakes). The boxes didn't really work so well, but the large dumpster behind the boxes did. The bike stopped and I went head first into the corner of the dumpster, opening a large cut above my eye.

Ow.

Never a wall, but I have used the pavement as a friction brake for a motorcycle. :wink: