Wow.... That's gotta be a scare for those guys. I see lots of turkey vultures around here. They get pretty big. I wouldn't want to hit any bird at 300 mph, especially one that size.
Back in the late 70's I got to see what a turkey buzzard can do to a F4-J radome. De-laminated the radome and it sure stunk by the time we got to it to clean it out.
When I was in T37 training in 1969 (Laredo Texas), a Mexican vulture came through the windscreen of another T-37 and hit the IP square in the face. Killed him instantly. The gore and stink after that were beyond description, I assure you. The student was on only his second flight in the plane. He managed to land it, but then walked off the airfield, never to return. They didn't go looking for him, either.
That was the impetus to refit all T-37s with polycarbonate windscreens - the fatal one was plexiglass.
Don't recall the particulars but many years back a commercial airliner, 707 I think, that sustained multiple strikes on the horizontal stabilizer from geese at very high altitude, something in the 30,000'+ range. There were no survivors.
I am..........disturbed.
Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain
There used to be a training film that showed the testing of various aircraft windscreens using a pneumatic gun to fire frozen chickens at them and then assess the damage. Think about the energy of a 4 or 5 pound chicken fired at 300 or 400 knots! It was funny in a way but showed how serious a bird strike can be. It’s been known as the “Chicken Gun Movie” 😁
We’ve had quite a few bird strikes here at NAS Meridian, usually on low level training routes where they’re flown at 360 knots with our T-45’s. I personally know of 4 or 5 guys that had bird strikes that resulted in pretty serious injuries.
Around ‘80 or so we were “bouncing” (practicing carrier landings) at night at Cubi Point NAS, Philippines in an F-4. Most of the landing pattern was over water but there are hills and jungle a little east of the runway.
We landed, taxied in and shut down. As soon as we shut down, the plane captains and troubleshooters were all over the jet getting it ready for the next crew. About the time my foot touched down on the concrete one of the troubleshooters came bailing out of the right intake yelling, “what did you hit Sir? Come here and look at this!” He shined his flashlight down the right intake and there was a wing of a flying fox (those big bats on Crocodile Dundee) stuck on the inlet guide vanes 😮 Talk about STINK; think gag a maggot 🤢🤮. Next day they borescoped the engine and unbelievably NO damage. That J-79 GE-10B just chewed ir and spit it right out. Loved that engine❤️
NRA Life,Endowment,Patron or Benefactor since '72.
The problem is that you’re generally doing something else like trying to find a check point. If all you are doing is looking for birds, you could see them all but that’s generally not the case. I teach our instructor pilots that are getting qualified to fly low level routes with students is that their number one priority in the rear cockpit is to look for birds ‘cause the students in the front seat are focused on navigation, timing, etc.
Last edited by navlav8r; 06/05/19.
NRA Life,Endowment,Patron or Benefactor since '72.
I was in the back of an EC-145 helicopter when we hit a great horned owl that struck right on the rotor head. Thought we hit a wall.....
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, used up, worn out, bottle of Jim Beam in one hand and a .45 in the other, loudly proclaiming WOW-- What a Ride!"
One of our BUFFs was flying a low level penetration down in Texas when it took a goose in the radome. Not only did it knock out the radar if messed up the pitot system causing bad stuff to happen to some of the flight instruments. They flew it all the way back to Michigan on an IFE, made a decent landing. Took forever to get a new radome.
There used to be a training film that showed the testing of various aircraft windscreens using a pneumatic gun to fire frozen chickens at them and then assess the damage. Think about the energy of a 4 or 5 pound chicken fired at 300 or 400 knots! It was funny in a way but showed how serious a bird strike can be. It’s been known as the “Chicken Gun Movie” 😁
We’ve had quite a few bird strikes here at NAS Meridian, usually on low level training routes where they’re flown at 360 knots with our T-45’s. I personally know of 4 or 5 guys that had bird strikes that resulted in pretty serious injuries.
Around ‘80 or so we were “bouncing” (practicing carrier landings) at night at Cubi Point NAS, Philippines in an F-4. Most of the landing pattern was over water but there are hills and jungle a little east of the runway.
We landed, taxied in and shut down. As soon as we shut down, the plane captains and troubleshooters were all over the jet getting it ready for the next crew. About the time my foot touched down on the concrete one of the troubleshooters came bailing out of the right intake yelling, “what did you hit Sir? Come here and look at this!” He shined his flashlight down the right intake and there was a wing of a flying fox (those big bats on Crocodile Dundee) stuck on the inlet guide vanes 😮 Talk about STINK; think gag a maggot 🤢🤮. Next day they borescoped the engine and unbelievably NO damage. That J-79 GE-10B just chewed ir and spit it right out. Loved that engine❤️
Mythbusters did a show shooting frozen chickens at aircraft windshields.
hitting one going 75 mph on the free way is no good for a windshield.
God bless Texas----------------------- Old 300 I will remain what i am until the day I die- A HUNTER......Sitting Bull Its not how you pick the booger.. but where you put it !! Roger V Hunter
We had several bird strikes. One C-130E hit a buzzard on approach to Howard AFB, Panama and the bird flattened a section of the wing leading edge. That same year another plane hit a small hawk on a low level route and it went through the wing leading edge. One another day flying low level we hit a small bird just below the center wind screen. I saw it pop up in front of us and I dove behind the copilot's seat just before impact. Most of our bird strikes left a red smear on the planes.
The Karma bus always has an empty seat when it comes around.- High Brass
There's battle lines being drawn Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Back in the late 70's I got to see what a turkey buzzard can do to a F4-J radome. De-laminated the radome and it sure stunk by the time we got to it to clean it out.
The impact of the bird on the canopy just above the windshield near the engine control quadrant likely jarred the fire extinguisher T-handles out of their detents and moved them aft, pushing both ECL triggers out of their stops and allowing them to move aft and into or near the flight-idle position, reducing fuel to both engines.
NTSB Conclusions; The sudden loss of power to both engines that resulted from impact with a bird -- , which fractured the windshield and interfered with engine fuel controls, and The subsequent disorientation of the flight crewmembers, which left them unable to recover from the loss of power.
Laboratory analysis identified bird remains from female red-tailed hawk; which have an average weight of 2.4 pounds.
-Bulletproof and Waterproof don't mean Idiotproof.
