CATO -- acronym?

[Herb Stahlke]

I have copied the question to the Academy of Model Aeronautics,
headquartered in Muncie, IN.  Any responses I get I will post.

Herb

On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 10:02 AM, wordmall <wordmall at aol.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       wordmall <wordmall at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      CATO  -- acronym?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Model airplane clubs announce CATO! when a plane crashes. Some say it
> is an acronym (crash on takeoff, catastrophe on takeoff, etc.). Others
> say it is an abbreviation of CATastrOphe. Can anyone document a
> reliable source?
>
> Michael J. Sheehan
>
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