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Watch NASA Drop a Plane on Its Tail for Safety

NASA dropped a 1974 Cessna 172 airplane tail-first from 100 feet up to test emergency locator transmitters, or ELTs. Data from the drop, including high-speed video, will help researchers test ELT performance and robustness.

Released on 08/28/2015

Transcript

Two, one, release.

(plane crashes)

Release.

(plane crashes)

(plane crashes)

Release.

Wow!

Why don't you just pull over, son?

Good.

(wind blows)

(plane crashes)

(metal clanks)

(wind blows)

(plane crashes)

(beeps)