Danish wind turbine eats itself

You know how we love wind turbines around here, but we love carnage even more -- so we can't get enough of this 200-foot tall Danish wind turbine shearing itself to bits after its brakes failed during a recent storm. The 10-year old windmill is the one of two different Vestas windmills to fail in Denmark in the past week -- the company is launching an investigation, but might we suggest selling tickets instead?

[Via BoingBoing]

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 26th 2008 4:48PM]

People just stand around recording wind turbines waiting for them to explode? Sorry I don't understand how these videos exist, its like those funny home videos.. oh someone was just there with a video camera waiting?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 26th 2008 4:28PM]

Yea, looks awesome, but I have to admit, I'm surprised that no one seam shocked or frightened.
I bet at least a few of you guys have stood under a wind turbine, looking up at those huge wings. I'm far from the bravest soul on earth, but looking up at the wings while they rotate just at normal speed freaks me out, and the thought of pieces of this thing flying right at me makes me almost shit myself.
The chunks flew well beyond the estimated safe radius. Far beyond really, some of the chunks could easily have struck a building. Such a wing could have leveled an entire house, including the entire family inside, and some of the chunks are almost the size of small cars.

I live just outside Randers, where these turbines are manufactured, and often come across the trucks transporting the parts out to the locations, and I tell ya, you're NOT gonna get past such a truck unless it's on the highway.

So yea, looks cool, but it's also terrifying as hell :S But no one seam to think about it... Luckily no one got hurt, so it's all fair enough. Just saying, could have gone VERY bad...

[mm360 Posted Feb 26th 2008 5:19PM]

To those who say Windmills do not generate lots of power, they do, this one puts your 350 Small Block to shame. Can that engine generate enough torque to snap itself in half? No, it cannot.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 26th 2008 5:44PM]

Apparently everyone knew it was gonna blow, as the area had just been evacuated once it was known that that the brakes had failed.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 27th 2008 6:33AM]

there goes the last samurai...

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 27th 2008 11:27PM]

does anyone ever stick to the subject anymore?i am surprised not to see [bush did it]

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 27th 2008 11:44PM]

never knew that a wind turbine could feather its blades,those seen on t.v. only show them motionless

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 28th 2008 12:20AM]

guess i wont put one in my back yard next to the rain barrels and compost heap and i really would like to be green[ha ha]