Readability/Usability/Quality 1-00 (March 2000) by Hans Springer

I received an email quoting an American article in German language. I found it very nice indeed. Here is the result of a translation back from German into English, showing the effect of inadequate user instruction:

In the American "Meat & Poultry" magazine an editor quoted the following history from "Feathers", the publication organ of the California Poultry Industrial Company:

The American FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) possesses equipment unique in the world for testing the stability of airplane windshields. Like a catapult this equipment shoots a dead chicken at a speed similar to that of a flying airplane to the windshield to be examined. The theory behind is that the airplane windshield, if it withstands the impact of this chicken also withstands a collision with a bird during flight.

Railway engineers were highly interested in this procedure and wanted to test the windshield of a newly developed high-speed locomotive. They borrowed the FAA catapult, loaded it with a chicken and fired. The ballistic chicken smashed the windshield, pierced the driver's seat, destroyed one instrument panel and finally stuck in the rear wall of the operator's cabin.

The railway-people were shocked and asked the FAA to examine the test arrangement whether everything had been implemented correctly. FAA engineers examined everything carefully and recommended: "use a thawed chicken!"  

"transline Deutschland - Übersetzungsdienst für technische Übersetzung"