Give me some "holy sh... did that just happen" ideas

[Waldo.Pepper]

Sorry for being late to the party, but I want the following, even though it is stupid.

I think that this qualifies for the "did that just happen" moniker. Though it is nicely subtle and could easily be missed by the unaware.

If in BOB we are to get weather and specifically wind direction. Then determining wind direction when making a forced landing away from an airfield, where there would presumably be wind socks provided, I would think would be important - and in fact it was. So using cues from nature pilots would try to determine the wind direction. Things like movement of water and trees, and the behaviour of Cows, and other grazing animals.

I was reading Luftwaffe Test Pilot by Hans-Werner Lerche, the other day. And one method that the author used was the direction that cows face in a field. So I want this modeled, imperfectly of course, because it is not foolproof. But there is some evidence for it that if the wind is strong enough cows will face away (shielding their faces) from the wind.

Here is the passage from the Lerche book. "I had even determined the wind direction by the position of the cows which are supposed to stand with their backs to the wind." page 60. It is worth noting that the man flew 125 different types of aircraft (not counting variations of the same aircraft) and was extremely experienced.

See the following ...

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_cow...same_direction

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ind-42437.html

This last one is pilots debating the issue. There is also a link to a tragic (perhaps also funny) video of a Tiger Moth hitting a cow on landing. The plane seems fine by the way.

http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...en-eating.html