Bird strikes

[rotateandfly]

How many bird strikes have you had so far?
Fortunately, ive only had a few close calls.

[Walker]

A flock of some really small little birds went through my prop in Washington a year ago, just made a mess, no damage...

[N2]

Got a bird with the strut one day...just a bang and that was it no damage.

Women in England are refered to as birds also..so if you're counting them I've been struck lots of times by birds!

[Kilo-Kilo]

Had to clean a huge nest out of the cowling once, but that doesn't count.

One of the planes at the school I was flying out of at CZBB struck a blue heron and wrecked a wing just as it left the ground. The instructor fortunately was able to return to the airport. A flight the student won't forget.

[185_guy]

I seen a super cub on floats with a hawk in the float bracing wires. It somehow stayed there for the rest of the flight, and when the pilot removed it, it's neck had to have been 4 feet long!
Lucky no damage was done!

[Flybabe]

Had a nice one on approach to YXD last year - coming in on 12, over the powerlines, whacked a gull (I think) on the left leading edge... caved it in about 4 inches. Some metalwork, a new boot and a week later we were back in service.

Not to mention how many I smacked when I was spraying. Cleaning guts off the windshield isn't exactly glamorous.

[Miss Mae]

3 bird strikes so far, one off the strut of a 152, one at dusk off the nose wheel and one hawk on approach...no major damage in any of the cases.

[Wally3Wheels]

2 so far:

1 - into the ol air filter of a Tomahawk.
1 - dented up the leading edge (Sea Gull) of the 1900 I was flying.

[Lommer]

Couple months ago a lear 45 flew out of the FBO where I work and sucked a blue heron into its left engine just before V1. They safely got the plane stopped and taxiied back in on the remaining engine, but the other one was a mess. Blood all on the side of the plane where the heron impacted before the engine, blood + guts + feathers all around the inside of the engine, and several of the fan blades were severely bent. The whole thing stank to high heaven too...

[SierraPoppa]

Who the hell allowed them to unionise? That's what I want to know.

Buzz Hargrove must be getting desperate for new members.

[Pratt]

In an airplane-0
In a car-1 goose

About a year ago cruising the 417 inbound to YOW on a quiet day on the highway there was 6 or so geese strolling across the highway. I saw them ahead on the road and was slowing as I approached them, they had made it to the shoulder of the hwy when a 5 ton truck goes flying by me in the other lane. The geese took flight behind the truck and for whatever reason headed across the road right in front of me. I took one right square in the middle of the windshield at about 70 kph, the angle of the windshield on the Nissan Altima allowed the goose to bounce off and keep going, at least I think it did.

After cleaning the goose shit off the windshield I was quite surprised that it was still intact.

[Schlem]

Hit a bird on the left wing leading edge during an IMC night approach into Lima, Peru in a Learjet 35A. Didn't feel a thing but it left a nice dent and blood spattered all over the tip tank.

Hit one on the horizontal stab on a PC-12 going into Churchill.

Hope to never hit another one again!

[sky's the limit]

Had quite a few over the years doing the game survey stuff, but since I've been flying helicopters, I've had three.

The best by far was a gull that hit the main rotor blade of an Astar right in front of the cockpit... If you've ever shot a Magpie with a 22-250, you'll know what it looked liked. It caught the end of the blade and exploded.

Then there was a bug I hit at FL240 250nm out to sea.... still scratching my head on that one...

STL

[Shady McSly]

I killed 7 full grown Canada Geese once in the flare - wasn't too pretty. The ones that went into the prop were sliced cleanly in two. It was mass carnage. (actually 6 died right away and the 7th ran into the bush with a broken wing - I assume it didn't last long).

It was a C207 and it put a dent in the wing and one flap, and painted the plane red - pretty lucky I guess.

But sure as shit I ate well for a few months after!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Brewguy]

I've had a couple of minor bird strikes (starlings and the like)... but the scariest was actually a near-miss rather than a strike.

Schweizer 2-33 glider head on with a Canada goose. He tucked his wings at the last second and went through the gap between the wing, fuselage and strut. I honestly didn't think he'd fit. Those geese are gigantic up close - especially when you're in a tiny rag & tube glider!

[McPhoo]

First one was a hawk on my Commercial Ride. Broke the windshield of the C172 along the bottom edge. Loud and windy. Left a wet spot right infront of the examiners face. Both of us wide eyed. Swapped the plane and finished the ride.

To many snow buntings while I was in the arctic to keep count. Hit a flock one day on final in Aklavik. One was cooked and smoking by the time I landed. It was parked between two cylinders. Nasty.

Half a dozen or so sea gulls since I have been in the south. Sticky mess by the time you get to where you were going and get a chance to clean it up.
Got home one day and there was a bone from the gull I hit sticking out of the wing boot.

No big ones yet and I ain't hoping.

[twotter]

I'm amazed that we don't hit more out here on the wet coast.. I've had literally hundreds or maybe thousands within a couple feet of the airplane.. Lot's of fun doing a low level approach for an eastbbound in the river at YVR in the late fall..

[Schlem]

I forgot... killed a duck in the flare in a PC-12 landing in Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut... the bird got caught in a wingtip vortex and was spun into the ground.

Funny thing was that the airport maintainer picked it up and offered it to me to take home to eat! One of those northern experiences I won't forget.

[All Fired Up]

HEY SHADY, THAT PLANE STILL FLY'S CROOKED NEVER BEEN THE SAME. I THINK YOU KILLED ALL THE BREEDING STOCK ALSO WE HAVENT SEEN ANY GEESE HERE SINCE, JUST CRANES PERHAPS YOU COULD COME BACK AND FIX THAT ALSO.

[KAG]

I've actually had 2 (in separate planes) make it through the props and into the oil cooler of a B100/B200.

We flew through a flock of pelicans in Florida. The co-pilot and me both ducked as they all went into a dive - scared the shit out of us. Luckily none hit us cause there pretty frigging big.

The funniest (and very lucky) was my friend Pete who instructed for Perimeter at the time. They were flying in a BE95 and doing an instrument approach in the fall. They broke out of cloud and straight into a flock of Geese, one of which came through the windscreen directly between Pete and his student, spraying blood/guts and feathers as it went by. They landed safely and when they taxied in They were both covered in gore, as was the planes interior. They had a picture taken (I wish I had it) of them standing in front of the plane arms around each other with this BE95 behind with a perfect semi circle smashed out of the windscreen, and the side windows looked like something from a horror movie.
Scary but funny after the fact.

Cheers.

[Freetime]

Do those tiny little snowbirds count? I've hit more than 50 of those...

[Blakey]

When we were hauling grain into Mekele, Ethiopia in the 80's, flocks of birds would gather around the airport to eat the grain that spilled out of the sacks and was kicking around on the cargo floor of the aircraft. We'd take out a half-dozen or so every day in the flare or even on taxi but we never worried too much about them. We were always more concerned about the kids that would swarm onto the runway to pick up the birds hit by the preceeding aircraft! Meat was scarce during the famine! I never hit one but I saw few up REAL close!

Even had to reject take-off for a donkey once!

[c185]

didn't know Zebras could fly...
poor 185

http://www.save-the-elephants.org/Photo ... /Page.html

[anotherwannabe]

I watched an Air Ontario Dash 8 fly through a huge flock of Seagulls crossing the numbers once. Never seen anything like it. Chunks of meat flying everywhere. I guess they didn't want to fill out the paperwork because when i told the tower clean up in aisle one, they denied hitting any. Said it was close but no strikes. No strikes my ass. Seagull carcass' everywhere. Oh well, next time I'll keep my mouth shut.

[Blakey]

C185: I've had occasion to smell what a bird strike smells like after landing and I can't imagine what a Zebra strike would smell like in the African heat! At least there was a fair bit of meat for the locals.