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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 the FAA's chicken launcher, loaded the chicken and fired. The
ballistic chicken shattered the windshield, went through the engineer's chair,
broke an instrument panel and embedded itself in the back wall of the engine
cab. The British were stunned and asked the FAA to recheck the test to see if
everything was done correctly.

The FAA reviewed the test thoroughly and had one recommendation:
"Thaw the chicken."
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