Darwin times five.

[genlock]

OCALA, Fla. (AP) -- A car traveling at high speed down a private airport runway ran off an embankment and was airborne for 200 feet before smashing into a tree early Saturday, killing all five young men in the vehicle, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Investigators did not know whether the BMW was alone or was racing another car on the air strip at the exclusive "fly-in" community of Jumbolair Aviation Estates, where pilot-actor John Travolta has a home, officials said.

According to the preliminary investigation, the car ran off the 85-foot-high embankment at the end of the runway. When it struck the large tree, the car split in half, scattering wreckage over an area of 200 square feet.

[jag]

Ah, yes...a bit of chlorine in the ol' gene pool!

[genlock]

A waste of a damn fine BMW automobile.

[Bar Rat]

Mythbusters material, maybe?

[ashton]

Delta X = 1/2 A Delta T^2 + V innitial Delta T

Use this twice.

First time: Figure out how long it takes to fall 85ft.

Second time: plug that number into the time variable and 200ft. into the Delta X variable to find innitial velocity.

Assumptions for the First formula:
-Innitial downward component of velocity is 0
-Change in position is 85 ft down
-acceleration due to Gravity is roughly 9.8 m/s^2 or 32 ft/s^2
-Wind resistance has a minimal impact, due to the weight of the vehicle.
-Terminal velocity is not reached.

Assumptions for the second formula:
-Change in position is 200 ft horizontal
-deceleration is minimal in the horizontal component, due to the small impact of wind resistance.


85ft=1/2 * 32ft/s^2 * TIME^2 + 0ft/s * TIME
85ft=16ft/s^2 * TIME^2
85ft / 16ft/s^2= TIME^2
Roughly 5 seconds^2 = Time^2
Time = Roughly 2.3 Seconds


Let's give a bit of wind resistance to slow things down in midair. We'll call the speed of the car 100 ft/s
This is 6000 ft per minute or 1.something miles per minute or
65 miles per hour going off the edge if my math isn't incredibly rusty. (It may be... Engineers, please help me out.)

Not a huge stretch, but why...

This leads me to movie magic:
Are we really supposed to believe that the blues brothers could really make that jump, knowing that their car is bound to fall 80 ft in the 2 seconds that it would be in the air? Don't try this at home!

This has been a public service announcement that you'll never need.

[jag]

WOW! A killer radio announcer and smart, too!

[Bob Campbell]

Yet can't spell "initial", thus calling all figures into question.

[genlock]

Yet can't spell "initial", thus calling all figures into question.

You pay a price for the ability to do square roots in your head.

[Arp2]

I can do both.....

....but I didn't remember that formula. One bit.


But shouldn't it be "Delta Y?"


Not important.....

[cgarison]

Additional details on the crash can be found here.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Co ... d=124526#2

The Short, Deadly Story of a Kid and his M5

Date posted: 01-28-2008

He posted on the BMW M5 forum — www.M5board.com — as "AmericanM5," the proud new owner of a 2008 BMW M5 painted Space Gray.

He had a problem. It happened when he had "everything set to max" and changed gear with the shift paddles mounted on the steering wheel. As he said, "and I'm going pedal to the metal pushing 140 and upshifting, there tends to be a thud noise with the gear change." AmericanM5 wanted to know if this was normal.

And he added: "Let me say I am a beginner when it comes to high-performance cars as I am only 18, so take it easy on me."

Reality Check
The forum members told him that yes, the sensation of an abrupt gear engagement is normal with the M5's automated sequential manual transmission, but several also took the opportunity to express their concerns.

Wrote one: "It's just disturbing to know...that an 18-year-old who is asking these questions about a 500-horsepower car is driving the same streets I am. I don't have anything against young guys driving nice cars, but an 18-year-old being [behind] the wheel of an M5 is what accidents are made of."

AmericanM5 responded: "I completely understand where you are coming from, assuming that I am irresponsible...that is definitely understandable. I do sometimes make bad decisions but I am young and I do drive safe and I will not endanger the lives of others."

These posts were dated January 25, 2008.

Space Gray
At 3:30 a.m. on January 26, a 2008 BMW M5 painted Space Gray flew off the raised end of a runway at a private airport just outside Ocala, Florida, sailed 200 feet through the air and stuck a huge tree. The impact with the tree occurred 15 feet off the ground. Five young men, aged 18 to 20, were killed instantly.

Members of the M5Board began to put the pieces together. AmericanM5 said he was 18, had a 2008 M5 in Space Gray, and said he lived in the Ocala area. And he signed one of the posts, "Josh."

The driver of the crashed M5 had been Josh Ammirato.

Experience Counts
Apparently AmericanM5 had not been entirely truthful in his postings. The M5 belonged not to him, but instead to his father.

When members of the M5board forum had made this suggestion online, AmericanM5 bristled: "It's mine, buddy. I just traded in my 335i and paid the difference."

Another member suggested that AmericanM5's lack of knowledge about the BMW M5's transmission could be easily explained: "Maybe your two years' driving experience in your whole life is the problem."

AmericanM5 responded: "That could be a good assumption but the fact I never drive a manual car before may be true, but I've been driving for a lot longer than two years, buddy."

Reports indicate that Ammirato had received four traffic citations in the last two years.

Is This for Real?
The crash occurred at the Greystone Airport, which is bordered on one side by Jumbolair Estates, a fly-in community where actor and pilot John Travolta lives; he filed a suit in 2007 to compel the owners to allow him to land his Boeing 707 on the strip.

The fly-in community was built by the late Arthur Jones, inventor of Nautilus exercise equipment. The airstrip is 7,550 feet (1.5 miles) long and is 210 feet wide. Apparently it can be accessed through an unguarded gate.

The five occupants of the M5 had attended a basketball game, and then a party where they were celebrating the 19th birthday of Dustin "Smiley" Dawe, one of the men killed.

The Florida Highway Patrol reported that there was evidence of skid marks at the end of the runway, indicating the car had turned sideways before crossing a sloped embankment and sailing through the air and into the tree. Alcohol does not appear to have been involved. The accident made headlines in the Ocala Star-Banner.

A Final Word
The final exchange between AmericanM5 and the rest of the forum members came late on January 25.

Some members wondered if the 18-year-old M5 owner was for real, and suggested that he post some photos of his car. Others wondered why a teenager would opt for an expensive sedan instead of more conventional sports car like a Porsche.

A forum member from Queensland, Australia, applauded AmericanM5's decision to get a BMW: "I would much prefer an 18-year-old with brains to have an M5 rather than spend his money on some other piece of junk that could kill him and his mates in an accident," wrote M5DAL, a forum member since 2004. He continued: "If you crash in a big way, expect to be on the news."

"Thanks, guys, don't get me wrong," AmericanM5 wrote. "I never said I didn't respect your wisdom. Thanks for the welcome, and I am looking forward to getting to know you guys better...and I plan to have all the pics up tomorrow. Josh."

That was his last post.

[Ace Purple]

Are we really supposed to believe that the blues brothers could really make that jump, knowing that their car is bound to fall 80 ft in the 2 seconds that it would be in the air?

The counter-video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yCyDtjQtAE

[cgarison]

The number one mistake in that Google Earth Video is they used the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge in Philadelphia.

The need to use the bridge in Chicago that Elwood acually jumped.

[ashton]

My apologies for the spelling. I've come to terms with not being as smart as Arp2.

He can use that as his sig if he'd like.

Can you imagine the number of times that piece would get nailed with red and green ink by Microsoft Word? Formulas don't play well with the spell checker. (One or two words?)

Anyway, the math isn't exact. I didn't have a good calc handy.

Delta Y... Yes. In one direction it would have been. As I was using the formula twice and explained one was for vertical and one for horizontal motion, I didn't feel the need to change the name of a variable. It all works out the same.