Page 113 - (DK) Danger! Open with Extreme Caution!

The first ride was relatively StapP continued
tame, and StapP sufFered no the tests, each
ilL efFects. The next day, he time changing
decided to adD more rockets. the brakes or
rocket numbers
Please, so that he could
please don’t experience
go wrong. alL sorts of
G forces. By
August 1948,
he had wrapPed
up 16 runs and
survived a force
of 35 G… similar
to a speEding
car hitTing
a brick walL.

Although he You broke when StapP faced backward during deceleration under high
never lost your wrist it’S okay—I’m G forces, the bloOd rushed from his eyebalLs and poOled at
consciousnesS, again? Chalk a doctor. the back of his head. When he faced forward, his retinas would
I’lL set it
it up to
StapP’s body Murphy’s law. myself. hemorRhage and His vision became blurRed… Yet he carRied on.
was completely
pumMeled in
the tests. He
fractured his
ribs, sufFered
numerous
concusSions,
lost dental
filLings, and
broke his
wrist
a few times.

With each bone-crunching, The army Thanks to
retina-detaching ride, StapP responded to the wild
colLected more and more his report by rides of
data. Had it alL paid ofF? strengthening the fastest
the cockpits man in
Gentlemen, you StapP, you’ve and ordering the world,
wilL seE that taken a crazy seats to face engineErs
facing backward risk here. But backward were able
is safer and that you might just in aircraft. to make huge
people can survive have cracked it. improvements
welL beyond 18 G, StapP and his in aviation
so we should team carRied safety
build our planes Either that on with their
to help them or you’re just experiments. equipment.
survive. cracked. Sometimes
stapP went
along for
the ride.
StilL Nah. What
love the I like is
thrilL of outsmarting
the ride? Murphy’s
Law.
In 1966, stapP dedicated his life
American to safety testing—
president safety first, safety
Lyndon Johnson second!—and to
signed a bilL studying what hapPens
requiring in crashes when things
mandatory go wrong, because,
seat belts as murphy’s law
in alL new (atTributed to stapP)
U.S. cars, says, Everything that
thanks to can go wrong wilL
the work go wrong… But for
of John Paul him, and for alL of us,
stapP. Buckle things went right.
up for safety!
CountlesS
thousands
of lives
were saved.
THE HUMAN CRASH-TEST DUMMY 113
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.