Escape Slide Parachute. Ever since Indiana Jones jumped out of the plane with nothing but the escape slide and then used it as a parachute on his way down and eventually slid down the mountain below, you know you’ve wondered if it would really work. I know that I sure have. Unfortunately, the first problem is the biggie – it just isn’t logistically possible to get the raft out the door in such a manner that you could use it in a way that they did in the movie. It’s still really cool to watch.
If you should somehow get it out the window, it’s a bit problematic. In the first test, Buster drops to the ground at 400 feet and shatters. In the second test, the raft flips and Buster flies out at high speed. In this test, Buster is clocked at 154mph, where a typical parachute landing comes in at around 14mph, so a third test is setup to see if the raft can act as a parachute, and this test does work to some degree, so someone could survive, but it isn’t what happened in the movies. Busted.
Exploding Hair Cream. The second myth is one I’ve never ever heard before, and it involves exploding hair cream. Apparently the Canadian Air Force had a large number of accidents with their fighter planes in the 1950s, and some of the pilots were decapitated by the explosions. The thinking was that the explosions may have been caused by the oxygen-rich environment, the hair cream, and perhaps a spark from the communications system.
Tory builds a cockpit from the remains of the Sharammer (from the Jaws Special), Grant builds a jet to fit around the cockpit and Kari builds a head, complete with hair to catch fire. The myth eventually proved that the hair cream was indeed flammable, but they couldn’t produce an explosive decapitation. Busted.
Surviving in the Tail of a Plane. The third myth also had to do with a plane, and specifically a flight attendant, who was strapped to her seat in the back of the plane when a bomb went off. She survived a fall from 33,000 feet without a parachute. Unfortunately, the team was unable to recreate the circumstances. Buster was dropped from 2,000 feet and was pretty busted up. This doesn’t mean she didn’t survive, of course, but the circumstances have to be just right to make it happen. Plausible.
