It seems the US Federal Aviation Administration has
a unique device for testing the strength of windshields
on airplanes. The device is a gun that launches a dead
chicken at a plane's windshield at approximately the
speed the plane flies.
The theory is that if the windshield doesn't crack
from the carcass impact, it'll survive a real collision
with a bird during flight.
It seems the British were very interested in this
and wanted to test a windshield on a brand new, speedy
locomotive they're developing. They borrowed FAA's
chicken launcher, loaded the chicken and fired.
The ballistic chicken shattered the windshield,
broke the engineer's chair and embedded itself in the
back wall of the engine cab. The British were stunned
and asked the FAA to re-check the test to see if
everything was done correctly.
The FAA reviewed the test thoroughly and had one
recommendation: Use a thawed chicken.