An ANN News-Spy now in the witless protection program brought us this intriguing image.

It appears to have been a snapshot taken during the test drops of an OMF Symphony airframe. The test was used to validate the BRS airplane parachute system for that machine.

The structure of the unlucky plane is weighted to gross (including weight to represent any cosmetic parts which are not included in the drop) and hoisted to the exact height that will produce the velocity (and therefore force) on contact that is to be expected when an OMF loaded to gross lands under the airplane parachute.

The plane bounces. Engineers look at damage to the structure, and at the forces that instrumented crash test dummies received.

The question becomes, how celebrity crash-test dummies Vince and Larry were able to slip into the undisclosed test facility (suspected to be Area 51) without their usual trail of paparazzi.

They were disguised, apparently, as a pair of OMF execs.

After all - there's no other possible reason that Bill Sprague's (Director of Sales and Marketing) and Derek Stinnes's (Managing Director) nametags appear on Vince (L.) and Larry (R.)

FMI: www.omf-aircraft.com, www.brsparachutes.com