Bird Strikes - What's it like?

[reverserdeployed]

A little while ago, whilst I sat at the holding point waiting to get into the circuit at Cardiff, an A320 (of JMC, I think) was on finals. Behind him was an A330. A BRA Embraer was on the take-off roll.

Shortly after rotation, the Emb pilot reported that he'd struck a bird whilst still on the runway.
Then, upon touchdown, the A320 pilot reported that he'd had a bird strike too.
A few moments later, the A330 pilot reported the same thing - and we could clearly see a big red streak running down the fuselage, just below the cockpit windows.

Aside from the obvious danger to the engines and power loss on take-off/approach - it must be pretty damn scary to hit a chook that hard. Any bird strike stories/anecdotes/legends welcome.

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If it ain't a Boeing - I ain't going!

[below_the_line_please]

I had a bird strike a few years ago in a 727 in Africa.

Shortly afer rotation, as we pulled up the gear there was a huge bang and we couldn't get the nose gear to lock up properly.
A HUGE bloody bird had hit the nose gear and buggered up the hydraulics. We got it down okay and landed safely.

Blood and feathers everywhere though!

[spooky]

We took out a seagull recently passing 200ft or so going out of a coastal uk airfield.Saw the thing out of the corner of my eye, thinking that was close. No adverse indications or bumps or anything. On arrival at a near continental airfield, stopping at the ramp, the wingtip looked different somehow. On closer inspection we could see the by now ill-defined form of a shredded body wrapped around the tip which had a rather large dent in it. 400 plus knots is clearly more than the bird could stand up in. It certainly lost its hair and feathers plus a limb or three and happily no serious damage sustained by ourselves. :)

[Lu Zuckerman]

It's too bad that you can't ask the question from the birds' point of view. I would think that if the question could be asked of the bird, "what was the first thing that went through your mind when you hit the airplane"? His answer most likely would have been, "MY Ass".

On a more or less serious note, several years ago a 727 on climbout from an Alaskan airfield frightened an eagle carrying a large salmon. The bird dropped the salmon and it impacted the 727 just above the passenger door making a loud bang and leaving a considerable dent in the metalwork.

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The Cat

[Phoenix_X]

I can remember hearing the bang the moment I was thinking "Well, those birds where lucky." On arrival we found the remnants splattered all over the leading edge devices :). Poor buggers, they did well in avoiding the nose though. Which is why I thought they were lucky :). Well, one can't have everything, can we?

[Grandad Flyer]

I've had a large bird strike just on the bottom edge of the windshield. We were turning onto final at the time. Its not very nice! It comes up so damn fast, natural reaction is to duck ('scuse the pun)/move sideways which is just what we did! The blood and guts were scraped off by the engineer later.
If you can imagine someone suddenly punching you in the face its like that, but without the pain.

[Lu Zuckerman]

I don't know if this is true but I have heard it repeated many times. It seems that a UK aircraft company secured the drawings for the chicken gun used by Boeing. They built the gun to spec and used it to hurl a deceased chicken into the windshield (windscreen) of a new aircraft under test.

The gun was pressurized to spec and the chicken was hurled at the windshield. It not only penetrated the glass but it kept on going and totally deformed the rear wall of the flight deck.

The UK aircraft company asked Boeing what went wrong. After a lengthy conversation back and forth it was discovered that the UK types didn't thaw the chicken prior to placing it in the barrel of the gun.

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The Cat

[redsnail]

I have had several bird strikes, a bat strike and clobbered a wallaby (on the landing roll).
Depending on where it hits (and how big the bird is) it ranges from annoyance to grounding the plane. Needless to say, a loud "bang" is heard and you just hope it didn't go through the prop.
WIth one bird strike, all that was left was the Kite's beak in the leading edge. The worst one I have seen was when a Wedge Tail eagle (about 50kg of bird) slammed into the wing root of a Dash 8 out of Broome WA. Grounded the plane for 3 months. Nearly wrote it off as the impact bent the spar! Fortunately the boys from DHC or Bombardier or whatever they are called this week, flew out and sorted out a fix for it. :)

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reddo...feral animal!

[Mattvitale]

I have only had one, hit a small white bird on the lower right side of the nose of a Dash-8. Caught sight of it about a half second before impact and felt a thump. Lucky it didn't go thru the prop I guess. On the ground there was no damage, just some feathers and blood. Our company did have a Dash that took a goose on the leading edge of the right wing, going completely through the leading edge and doing serious and extensive damage to the forward spar.

Geese hurt!!

[Capt Claret]

BAcktracking the runway on a tropical coral cay some years back in an Islander, with a seagull flying parallel and at taxi speed.

The seagull diverted left and rearward and was chopped into 4 bits as both blades bisected it.

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bottums up !

[CrashDive]

I once read (I'm sure it was in the American version of the magazine 'Flyer' ) of a Griffon Vulture that was hit by a jet (from memory a B707, or was it a DC8?) whilst the a/c was climbing/descending at something like FL180.

Now, if you've ever seen a Griffon Vulture you'll know that they're some BIG bird !

Thus a/c walloped the bird on the radome, which the bird subsequently went straight through, and then through the firewall, before coming to a halt about the F/O's legs - which it broke both of ! - and seriously damaging the controls / instruments.

[reverserdeployed]

http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif

[caqtas air]

I have had my share of birdstrikes over the years, but the thing that always scared the S#@t out of me was running into a mob of kangaroos on landing in a single at 0700 on El Questo Station in the Kimberley WA.What a bloody mess, the leading edges were buggered, and the windscreen, the prop looked like it had tried to mix cement and dead roos from Ar@se #ole to breakfast. Some start to a holiday....

[reynoldsno1]

Some years ago a RAAF P3 Orion hit a pelcan in flight, and the damage was huge. Several of the flight deck instruments were forced out of the instrument panel, severe distortion to many frames in the nose, etc, etc. The aircraft was unconsidered to be damaged beyond economical repair. Needless to say the RNZAF bought it at scrap value, bought some bigger sledgehammers and had it back flying in no time!

[gas path]

Well here's a fairly recent one from the aaib it indicates some of the damage that can occur.
<A HREF="http://www.aaib.detr.gov.uk/sep99htm/gawnjf2.jpg" TARGET="_blank">www.aaib.detr.gov.uk/sep99htm/gawnjf2.jpg</A>
The cause.....a 4lb grey heron!


[This message has been edited by gas path (edited 05 December 2000).]

[Skycop]

A few years ago a UK Army Gazelle helicopter hit a buzzard which came through intact into the cockpit. Shortly afterwards it woke up and attacked the pilot. The observer was obliged to wring its neck to save his own!

[piston broke]

If a bird goes into a jet engine do you get shredded tweet?


Sorry Malcolm, I know that one's yours!

[This message has been edited by piston broke (edited 05 December 2000).]

[offshoreigor]

I guess I'm lucky to have the big mix master overhead. Every birdstrike I've had has been a very fine puree of GU-11 after going through the blades at Pina Colada Speed!

The ones that managed to miss the blades (by some miracle) have been so small they have usually hit with a minor 'plunk' and splatter!

I have had some buddies in a 212 at night, low level, have an intimate relationship with a 12 pound goose at 100 kts. I've seen the post impact photos and believe me, I'd hate to have been doing 400 or 500 kts!

Cheers, OffshoreIgor http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif

[ShotOne]

While on the course at British Aerospace Woodford, I was told a story (they swore it was true)about the certification trials of the BAe 146 windscreen. The chicken was weighed and loaded up in the test cannon prior to the 250kt impact test. The technicians then went for lunch. When they returned, they finished setting the measurement equipment and fired the cannon. Chicken duly splatted on screen...together with a mass of black fur. When they examined the screen they discovered the sadly mangled carcass of a cat -which had crept in to eat the chicken while they were at lunch.

So if you are lucky enough to fly the 146, you can relax in the knowledge that the screen is tested for cat strike up to 250kts.

[scroggs]

Took out a couple of Upland Geese at Mount Pleasant a few years ago. It was at about 110kts on take off in a very heavy C130 (max mil overload). One went through the leading edge and mangled the bleed air manifold and various other fairly important bits'n'bobs. The other went down the No. 3 engine, which barely noticed! The smell from the a/c before we got it switched off was disgusting!! The reject at that weight with limited reverse thrust was quite sporting as well.
Another story: when I was a baby fast-jet trainee at RAF Valley in the late '70s, one guy (RN, I think) took out a large bird at 420kts at low-level. The bird struck the Hawk just below the windscreen, and the remains penetrated the aircraft skin, went through the instrument panel, and landed in his lap. The subsequent 420kt breeze concentrated his mind somewhat, but I'm pretty sure he got it down OK (at RAF Mona, I think). He certainly earned his pay that day!

[compressor stall]

Circuit training in a single after a shower of rain - evreything still pretty wet. On rotation a flock of seasgulls scatters and fwoomp at least one entered the arc of the prop. The view out the windscreen was like the start of a 007 film...red smearing everywhere as the blood mixed with the water. Next landing, there was the head of the bird on the runway...without a body...

4 Galahs (grey and pink aussie parrots) at once on landing....in the desert with no water to wash the aircraft. The white 210s nose was brown/green (rotten blood) by the time it saw town again. Fortunately I had a quick turnaround, & change planes, so did not have to wash it!

A large Hare at Essendon Airport with the nosewheel of the Seminole. Nil damage to nosewheel, but one braised bunny.

Some cable (foxtel?)kids show has on tape several Agiles (rather gymnastic small Kangaroos) making a panic sideways dive under my aircraft as it landed to avoid knocking themselves out/being minced.

One rearing snake lost its head into my prop as I landed.

Gawd, i sound like a mass animal murderer, just as well i dont have to count what i have hit in my car! ;)

PS - Hey reddo, how'd you know it was a bat (at night?).




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Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.
William Blake

[seupp]

One our of captains said he's going to be the first to get birdstrikes from behind since he's using MPC.

seupp

[This message has been edited by seupp (edited 07 December 2000).]

[Gulf227]

Thought I'd join the conversation...

I've only had one bird strike myself... It (the bird - RIP) hit just after T/O on my wiper post... Blood and feather everywhere, so nice to look at for 50 minutes in cruise! :)

I've had the pleasure of finding bird strikes on pre-flights. I remember thinking, "Why would someone through Ketchup on the side of the plane?" As you can guess it wasn't Ketchup... Twitty - RIP is no more.

As for loud noises... I had a friend hit two deer just before Vr in a Saab... Loudest noise he ever heard, considering they lost two blades.

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FLY SAFE!!!

[redsnail]

Compressor Stall, After we dragged it's carcass from out of the fibreglass nose cowl we could tell it was a bat. Another big tip was the lack of feathers.
Also clobbered some galahs going into Kowanyama (QLD). By the time we had done the turn around, their carcasses had been eaten by the Kites that were orbiting final.

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reddo...feral animal!

[Iceman49]

Hit 3 dozen geese landing at LGA on night, luckly we saw them just prior to the flare. Destroyed the number 2 engine, large dents in the leading edges, holes in the flaps and damage to the airconditioning system. Not a pretty sight. Also hit a flock of sparrow sized birds over in the Gulf in a C5...we has instant feathers in the cockpit..no damage.

[Smurfjet]

Hey reddo, I thought bats had TCAS :) :)

Call'em Bombardier for now... :rolleyes:

[eole]

Those jolly wedge tail eagles think they own the sky, they seem to enjoy hovering on final parading their air superiority with pretention. If you look closely at their claws you can actually see two of them waving up and down at you in a victory sign.

More seriously, I have given headaches to pigeons and galahs. I narrowly avoided three pelicans in a Grob(hardly bigger than a pelican) who never realised the close encounter. I have also seen kamikase green budgies who are very active (during spring I think) in central Australia, they are attracted by propellers. I have had them repetively hitting the perspex of the stationary Baron, others trying to sit on the propeller...at idle RPM.

Now I have a question. If you are established on final at 400ft and you see birds ahead of your flight path, should you try to avoid them by evasive action at the expense of destabilising the appproach or should you continue on hoping that the birds will move? If anyone knows of any articles on that sort of situation I would appreciate a reference. Thanks

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Don't believe anything you hear and only believe half of what you see.

[Map_Shift]

Lucky escape after launching from AMS 01L in a BAC 1-11 years ago. Visibility was only CAT II on the ground, but the fog was patchy and 400-500ft thick with clear skies above.

Having reached 500agl and started the left turn to track the SPL (341?) radial, we popped out of the fog and immediately became aware of something in our way. What had started as a small speck rapidly became a flight of Canada Geese http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif in a lob-sided 'V' formation. Only by relaxing our LH turn did we avoid sending chunks of Goose and RR Spey down onto the unsuspecting folks fumbling around in the fog below. However, the subsequent shower of Goose poo was unavoidable!

[AffirmBrest]

Took out a big thrush or crow on lift-off from DUB in the spring - impacted on my (RHS) windshield with a 'BANG!' and I found myself cowering below the glareshield. Guts and feathers remianed plastered completely across my forward window, couldn't see a thing forward for the rest of the flight.

Took great delight in showing it to the cabin crew who were invariably a) disgusted, when we pointed out what various bits were, and b) upset that we didn't take avoiding action ("poor birdie") at 50' and 140kts...

Was also at Filton many years ago as an Air Cadet when a SHAR diverted with a suspected bird strike and engine problems - went down the side of the fuselage, and what was left of it (seagull?) on the nozzles was thoroughly cooked by the time it taxied in. Looked nasty, smelt delicious. :)

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...proceeding below Decision Height WITH CAUTION...

[ShyTorque]

In the 1980s the RAF lost quite a lot of Harriers to low-level bird-strikes.

Steve Belcher, a colleague and good friend of mine, died in the post-takeoff crash of his Nimrod. They found 70 or so dead seagulls on the runway; 3 out of 4 engines had lost power due to birdstrike damage. He, as co-pilot and the captain were both killed but everyone down the back survived the crash into the forest off the end of the runway. RIP, mate.

[scroggs]

Yes, I knew Steve as well. Great shame, and a pretty valiant effort to get the ship on the ground so at least some got out. RIP.

[Pinger]

I had a pigeon (racing variety) take a dive thru my rotor disc shortly after landing once.

An explosion of feathers alerted me to the event, and after shutting down I found the two halves of the doo perfectly severed about 20yds apart.

Thinking the owner might be wringing his fla'cap in anguish at the disappearance of his "fancy" (!) I passed the details of the unfortunate bird's leg ring and the circumstances of it's demise to the Pigeon Racing Society or whatever it is called (who were totallt uninterested) and heard...absolutely sod all.

Now I don't swerve for doos, Malibu Storks and above only.

[SkidSolo]

Whilst training at Gateway, Arizona we used to see road runners sprinting across the r/w on a regular basis.

Imagine my surprise when one day I saw a dog-like creature chasing after one!

[quid]

Ah, yes. Arizona.

In 1961 I was flying USAF F-100s out of Luke AFB.

One day I was flying wing position on a formation takeoff, and just after rotation, there was a violent "bang", along with airframe shudder, and flame shot out the nose intake like an afterburner. Got it back on the ground, got a good chute and got it stopped right at the end of the runway. When they looked inside that afternoon, there was a lot of feathers and bird pieces. It was one of those big prarie hens, weighing 8-10 pounds. Shot 6 turbine buckets through the fuselage. We didn't have zero-zero seats in those days. A few seconds later I'd have been in a hell of a mess.

Also had a hit near the eyebrow window frame on a 727. Sounded like a brick hit us.

My share of others, too, some were not found until postflight/preflight.

[CRP5]

smells very bad!

[G-OOFY]

Flight International (Learjets PHF. VA.) took off one morning from runway 05 (uncontrolled airport outside hours). Just on rotation a large Deer appears in the landing lights and whamm strikes the main gear.

A/c nose nose is about five feet high and the mains are just off the deck. Skipper brought it to a halt by the end of the runway and was critised for not continuing into the air.

Damage was extream to say the least. Hydralics gone, both wheels damaged beyond repair with the tyres grotesquely hanging off the rims, fuselarge damage and bent main gear strut!

[TiggerTamer]

Hit one bird just after rotate, smack into the centre of my screen. When I climbed out from under the glareshield could see guts everywhere and not much else. Had to hand the 'plane back to the capt. as i couldn't see the runway for landing.

Worst one was on the take off roll from Genoa. A flock of birds lifted off from the runway as we came past at about 120kts. Hit at least 14. Continued with take off as engines OK (PW JT8D) . Smell of roast gulls is pretty gross. Had gear red light on approach due feathers in microswitch. Found feathers and guts all over aircraft, including blocked pitot. Got away lightly I reckon...

[Deep Stall]

One of my colleagues told me of astory a few years ago. He was left seat in a Saab 340 going into Leeds I think but not sure. At about 200 feet a huge flock of gulls decided to take the props. They landed with a totally blood covered windscreen and both engines were knackered. Crews found... wait for it... 56 carcasses around the threshold!!!! Carnage!!!!!

[Dan Dare]

Open cockpit low wing aircraft. Head sicking out of the top. The bird took avoiding action and I felt it (or its wake?) skimming through my hair! I was lucky, it could have felt much worse...

[Cold Soak]

We had a lucky escape in a Dash-8 coming out of Plymouth a couple of years ago. A pterodactyl sized seagull went through the prop (1200 r.p.m) without touching it, just missing the engine intake by a couple of feet, impacting and wedging istself into the landing light housing! The timing must have been one in a million, rather like firing mausers through propellers!

[cortilla]

one of my instructors (a dc-10 driver) loves telling us his wartime stories of Entebbe. You know the airport that was raided by israeli special forces in the 0's. He says that the final is right above a bird sanctuary and on average they **** about 10 birds per approach.
Do any of you guys actually pic off the bird remnants and send them off to I.B.I.S. as you are supposed to do, or do you leave the remnants and hope it washes off when you fly into rain.

[PaulDeGearup]

Took a bird in an F6 Hunter at 420kts at low level. I recall a rush of white and a helluva bang on the lower left side of the canopy then ................nothing.
Eased the jet up to 2500ft and checked the donk. With cruise power set for 420 at LL I was getting 250kts at 2500, thought OOPS !!
Landed at Warton (BAe airfield wher they made Tornados) and when groundcrew were shaking heads etc after shutdown I realised that something was wrong.
The bird had hit the canopy, gone down in to the intake, but hit the splitter wall on the intake and separtated, pushing the wall into the intake. The outboard bit had gone up into the intake and peeled it back like a yoghourt carton lid before dividing itself again part going in to the wing and the remainder spreading itself across the first stage. Totally f**cked the engine.
The jet never flew again; it was taken aprt at Warton and repatriated to Valley by road but they lost some bits en route.

[Mike E]

Hope this doesn't put everyone off their dinner, as a loadmaster/flight mechanic on B707s I once spent a very happy hot afternoon in East Africa removing the remains of a dog that decided to cross the runway as we were landing, from the L/H main gear. Extremely pleasant with very hot brakes. Had to drink several Tusker beers to take away the smell of cooked hound!

[Luftwaffle]

I've taken out a seagull, whacked it with the right prop in the flare. I wouldn't have known it was there if the aircraft owner, sitting in the right seat, hadn't been gibbering at me not to try to dodge it.

Here's an account of a pelican taking out a 172XP.

<A HREF="http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/mia/lnarr_94A179.htm" TARGET="_blank">http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/mia/lnarr_94A179.htm</A>

[Lu Zuckerman]

How about this?
I was flight mechanic on a Bell HTL-1 (early model 47) and we were returning to base in Traverse City, Michigan from a stint on an Ice Breaker on Lake Superior. We had a leaky tail rotor gearbox so every fifty miles or so we would land and I would fill up the gearbox with of all things, fish oil. Very smelly stuff. My pilot, Dave Gershowitz, who incidentally was the first pilot to hit 1000 hours, was easily freaked out. While flying in the left seat I was holding the oil can between my legs and reading a map. We were about twenty minutes out when Dave saw a bear. He very excitedly told me to look. When I leaned over, my legs spread and the can hit the deck. Dave thought there was something wrong with the tail rotor gearbox and he made a quick turn looking for a spot to land. In the process of making his maneuver he really made a hard over. On that particular helicopter type when there was an excessive side load on the mast it would cause the planetary gears to really growl. Upon hearing that, he really wanted to get on the ground. He picked out a landing spot in front of what we later found out was a veterinarians office. To get from where we were to that landing spot we had to pass over a turkey farm and in the process we made the turkeys stampede and over 100 birds were killed in the pileup at the fence surrounding the turkey farm. Oh yes, in the process of landing, we took out the vets' telephone line.




[This message has been edited by Lu Zuckerman (edited 16 December 2000).]

[SchmiteGoBust]

ShotOne,
That story about the cat in the cannon is true!! The cat was adopted by one of the flight shed guys and used to sleep in the Hangar. Needless to say the guy who cared for it was absolutely gutted-----not quite as gutted as tiddles though!!

[Dr. Red]

BANG!

http://www.aviationpics.de/military/P0000460.jpg

Yep, a birdstrike.

[BEagle]

Took a bird down number 3 just after V1 at MTOW in Bahrein whilst working uo for the Great Arabian Ar$e Kicking Party. Shut it down, dumped gas, got the groundcrew to prep. the spare, landed, swapped jets, took off again, made the RV with the fighters.
But the best tale I have was as a student at Leeming in '74. It was early autumn and we noticed an unusual smell in the Ops room. As the days went by it got worse and worse; finally it got too much and we decided to find out what the hell was causing it. A suspect package was discovered in the QFIs in-tray; it was addressed to the Flight Safety Officer, who had been on 2 weeks' leave. In those days you had to parcel up the remains of a birdstrike and send them off to the FSO who was supposed to fill out the paperwork and send it all off to the Min of Ag and Fish. The FSO reappeared on Monday and announced that someone had indeed hit a tern and had sent it to him. "Tern?" said the Chief Instructor, "tern? It smelt more like someone had sent you a turd!"

[wrecker]

Many years ago a BEA Vanguard taking of from what was then Glasgow Renfrew airport hit a flock of birds and lost 3 out of its 4 engines (RR Tynes) the crew managed to relight a couple of engines which ran badly for a short time and made a quick circuit and landed safely. Capt was Dennis Clifton P2 Ted Dunn P3 A N Other. All three got Queens Commendations

[con-pilot]

An E-3 went down after takeoff at Elemendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska killing all on board. Very sad. They hit a lot of Canadian Geese at rotation. In the post-accident pictures of the runway it was covered with dead birds.

In my personal experience there has been two times I have had serious aircraft damage from bird strikes.

1. Jet Commander, back in the mid-70's landing at KTEB (Teterboro N.J.), I took a seagull in the left flap. Had to replace the flap due to the damage.

2. Boeing 727, a couple of years ago on takeoff from KLWB (Lewisburg W.V.), I hit some type of bird just after rotation, didn't know it at the the time. After landing at KMDT (Harrisburg PA.) we had trouble retracting the leading edge devices.
When we got out and looked at the right wing we could see where a bird had hit right where the #5 and #6 leading edge slats join. Had to replace both slats and some of the tracks works. Took two days.

I have a few more bird strikes, but except of the mess, no damage. (knock on wood)

[This message has been edited by con-pilot (edited 20 December 2000).]

[This message has been edited by con-pilot (edited 20 December 2000).]

[before landing check list]

Hit a buzzard in a UH1-H in San Salvador. caved in the window. Lesson learned? Wear the flight helmet and not the NY baseball cap and cool Vaurnets. And watch where you are going while flying over the garbage dump.
j

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For a plane to fly well, it must be beautiful.

— Marcel Dassault

[This message has been edited by before landing check list (edited 21 December 2000).]

[before landing check list]

spooky
cool dude, 400 KTS below 10,000 and after T/O. I need to get out of the 8 and go to the 72. And reverserdeployed, you are copying Chuck Yeagers quote in this forum.
j

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For a plane to fly well, it must be beautiful.

— Marcel Dassault

[This message has been edited by before landing check list (edited 20 December 2000).]

[This message has been edited by before landing check list (edited 21 December 2000).]

[Dockjock]

Citation Excel landing at CYKF (Waterloo, Canada) hit a deer on landing at dusk. Leading edge totally smashed to the tune of $1,000,000 (CDN) damage. But the a/c is flying again.

[TowerDog]

On T/O from Daka in Bangladesh: Just after passing 110 knots, saw a bird (about the size of a Piper Cherokee) trying to cross the runway from right to left.
It passed down the right side of the fuselage and just as I thought we missed it, the airplane shook and loud bang was heard.
(B-747-200)
Stopped, taxied off and shut down. Flight mechanic inspected and sure enough blood, feathers and damaged fan blades in number 3 engine.
Spent a few days in lovely Daka while they fixed it. Thanks birdie.

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Men, this is no drill...

[ShyTorque]

One moonlit night in southern China we were transitting at 500 ft amsl. Suddenly the city lights outside went out as a VERY big bird hit my aircraft just above the windscreen. I landed shortly afterwards to find lots of blood, guts and feathers up and over the top deck but no damage.

I suspect the bird was a Black-eared Kite, commonly known as a S**te-Hawk. It also scared the S**te out of us.

Any guesses where my user name came from?

[This message has been edited by ShyTorque (edited 24 December 2000).]

[reverserdeployed]

Before Landing Check List - you're right!

Rotters nicking my signature.

Let me revert back to a wonderful line from my favourite disaster movie in which a private pilot uses a 747 for target practice...

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"Something hit us - there's nobody left to fly the plane!!"

[reverserdeployed]

:)

[CharlieBrown]

I had several bird stikes before,usually south of England. The one that nearly killed me was not the bird. It was the handling pilot beside me. He over reacted and pulled the control hard back trying to avoid the bloody seagull somewhere about 100 yards sideway. I am sure he exceeded the G load limit of the a/c. I could feel my body was behind me.

[Stimul8her]

A family friend of mine, now retired, hit a herd of cows in the flare at night while landing in Nagpur, India. The incident happened about 20-odd years ago. A/c was an Indian airlines B737-200. Almost touched down, or had just touched down, can't remember now, when he saw around 5 cows running across. The port wing hit the cow(s)and all leading edge slats and the wing were damaged. Upon leaving the runway, a/c had lost all hydraulic fluids and there was no steering, braking, etc. He then cut both engines and was coasting without directional control, until the a/c slowed down and finally came to a halt, with the nosewheel hitting the ledge of an underground tank. It was a water sump, and he said that he had fired both engines out and was scared that the nose might fall into the tank, probably causing havoc or fire with the avionics bay if it went in. But by sheer luck, he mentioned, the nose wheel hit the ledge at one of the 4 corners, and so they were very fortunate, the a/c did not nose into the tank.

Quite a story.

[212man]

Had a couple of vultures come through the disc while hover taxying. The first one seemed to attack the a/c but was suitably blended and strewn far and wide. His mate flew in small circles above trying to work out where his friend had gone to, then quickly began to learn rotary PoF theory as he became part of the induced flow. He seemed to descend in slow motion, flapping furiously to get away (like a cartoon) before being belted and flung about 100 yards accross the pan. As I landed, coincidentally, on the spot next to his body, I was amazed to see him get up and walk off, rather sheepishly, with one wing neatly severed at the shoulder. a couple of hangar boys caught it and announced later "he's sleeping now".

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Another day in paradise

[TopBunk]

Had several, one of which going into CDG a few years ago on a 737-200. The bird went straight through the compressor stages and the smell of roasted whatever it was spread through the aircraft - lovely! Just coming up to lunchtime as well.

[Canuckbirdstrike]

To all:

Bird and mammal strikes are becoming one of the high priority safety issues for the coming year.

I am involved in writing and production of a book for Transport Canada on this issue and my researched have turned up some interesting points.

Current very conservative estimates indicate that wildlife strikes cost the industry in North America in excess of 500 million dollars.

The most interesting point is that the number of bird strikes with waterfowl is increasing dramatically. these birds are in many cases larger than the wieghts that aircraft and engines are certified to withstand. What is also interesting is the number of encounters where more than one engine is being damaged. Increasing dramatically!

As a pilot the best strategy (and the one I follow when flying the A320) is to climb or descend as rapidly as possible at the lowest safe speed through the bird rich altitudes. 99% of bird strikes occur below 10,000 ft. Migratory waterfowl regularly fly between 2,000 and 10,000 agl, the data proves it. Bird populations, in particular high risk species like geese, are increasing at incredible rates. Bird impact force increases as the square of the speed (double the weight four times the force). This might want a number of you to rethink speeding up above 250 kts below 10,000 ft.

There are some really spectacular pictures available. Take the time and have a look.

If you want more information check out the Transport Canada website www.tc.gc.ca. (http://www.tc.gc.ca.)

Watch the birdie.

P.S. True story... Student pilot strikes bird on downwind leg, requests immediate landing. Tower controller asks if he requires emergency services. Student pilot replies, "No it's alright the bird is dead".

[JBravo]

Flying in a Baron I saw three pigeons coming straight at me while taking off from Southampton. One swerved to the right, two to the left, and we've hit at least one of them with the props, since I saw feathers on the right. I saw them coming so it didn't really surprise me and since there was nothing wrong with the temperature or any vibrations, we continued to our destination. (training flight, no pax). Since pigeons aren't very big, we figured they didn't have caused any damage. Upon arrivel, we notified maintainance. The next day they told me they had found a fried pigeon under the cowling of the LEFT engine. So it were actually two pigeons. Can you imagine? Such a small bird passing the props and entering the engine via a relative small hole? What are the odds? I figured we were actually lucky it didn't damage the engine.

JBravo

[Canuckbirdstrike]

Had a good one back in 1993 landing in Prestwick in a DC8-73. Just as i rotated the nose in the flare a pair of Skylarks flew in to one of the two air cycle machine inlets on the nose of the aircraft (about 4 x 6 inch area). The wise and senior aircraft commander accused me of aiming for them, just to get a wonderful night in the Caledonian Hotel!

On a serious note if you are coming towards birds and you have the time to observe them you can tell the relative size of the bird by the frequency of wing flap movements - big bird long slow wing flaps, small birds the ooposite. This might prepare you for the magnitude of the splat.

The best strategy to maneuver to avoid birds is to pull up (don't stall!).

The above two pieces of information are from research work by many respected biologists and are contained in the the new Transport Canada bird strike book "Sharing the Skies" to be published later this year. A great book for all the members of the industry.

And no I don't get any royalties!

[pigboat]

Hit a seagull with a 125 coming out of Burke Lakefront once, went through the right engine. The smell of cooked seagull is enough to put one off KFC for awhile, I can tell you. The Garrett rep changed the engine and we went back to base. On the return to BKL four days later, hit another bloody gull just on rotation, right above the right windshield panel. Got a whole flock of snow buntings once on landing with a DC-3. We counted twenty three little blood spatters on the right side of the nose, as well as about a dozen more in the right engine.

[CharlieBrown]

I don't think there is any particular good way to avoid bird strike. It happens in a fraction of a second; pulling up the nose sounds like a quickiest way to change your flight path. However, observing the G limit of the a/c must be kept in mind. The well being of the pax is also a factor.

[Roc]

My first flight in a T-38, about 100 ft, I retract the gear and see a flock of birds pass very quickly by us accompanied by numerous "thuds" The fragile J-85's didn't burp..I tell my instructor that I think we took some birds, and he starts railing about how that was the sound of the gear retracting!! He then starts lecturing me about how I had approx 2 minutes of T-38 time and he had over 700 hours, and I should not question him, etc etc...great start with a guy who holds my future in his hands. As we block in, the crew chief starts pointing to us and a few others come by to look, blood and guts everywhere, and a required engine change on one engine!!! My instructor never apologized. Flying C-141's at 300 ft, I've must have had hundreds of bird strikes, we just wrote it up upon landing. Nowadays, the military is so cautious concerning birdstrikes that we have to land immediatley to inspect the aircraft!!! great policy if your finished with your training and want to land early!!!!

[pullupnow]

...so now you have quite a few birdstrike stories.
When are you broadcasting them to scare the s... out of your audience,hmm ?
...check your six, pullupnow.

[HugMonster]

What's it like? Pretty darned uncomfortable, if you're a bird...

I've had a couple of birdstrikes, and one foxstrike. That was on the T/O roll out of SEN in an EMB110 at night. I saw it and tried to lift the nosewheel over it - my skipper hadn't seen it and thought I had gone barmy, trying to rotate too early! Hit it a glancing blow, and it must have crawled off to die somewhere quieter, as the subsequent R/W inspection didn't find it.

Neither birstrike was much of an event - one in an Islander (NO, it didn't hit it from behind!) caught the nosegear leg. The other in an ATR72, hit just above the F/O's windscreen, no damage (to the aircraft) but much blood and guts scraped over the front of the fuselage.

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Breeding Per Dementia Unto Something Jolly Big, Toodle-pip

[reverserdeployed]

pullupnow - yep quite a few! My audience hear plenty of scary stories everyday about my flying lessons. I've nearly landed on a a few of them whilst doing PFL's!

But seeing as the weather bulletin on my radio station is sponsored by Cardiff International Airport - I think that my paymasters would be a little upset at me telling all my listeners about the joys of birdstrikes!!

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"Something hit us - there's nobody left to fly the plane!!" AIRPORT '77

[ZK-NSJ]

crashdive,
forgive me if i sound like a smartarse,
but on page one of this thread in your post
you mentioned "a/c walloped the bird on
the radome"
now i may be wrong but i didn't know that
birds had radomes, and if they did you
would think they would be able to see the
aircraft coming and avoid it.

[Speedbird48]

I was once involved in clearing off the runway at LGW in TriStar and on arrival at destination found the remains of 7 seagulls in the gear and wing engines.
Someone shouted "BIRDS" and I recall seeing three faces very close to the pedestal close to V1!!
Saw a Twin Bonanza in Louisiana that got a swan after take-off in the dark. The windshield was gone and the guy was wearing most of it, UGH!!

[airforcenone]

One or two,

1. Large seagull expired all over the skippers windscreen rotating at MAD in a 737-200. Not pretty, lost the A system and had to land back in.

2. Same week, scottish seagull went headfirst into No.2 engine going into GLA, smelled a bit, had to nightstop!

[FLUFFY SHOES]

For weeks there had been a very very large flock of birds hanging around this little grass strip that we were based at. No matter what you did ie drive ya car at them, through stuff at them, unleash the dogs on them......not one was ever caught / hurt and all would return to the grass seeds on the runway. They always seemed to get out of the way just in time..........

Until one cold sunrise.....

Taking off in a Partenavia, lights on etc etc As previous practice dictated, they would scatter at the last second. This time for some reason they did, but just as I was rotating.....sounded just like a wipper snipper.

Flew through the complete flock. Blood splatters on both wing leading edges, nose and sides, and all over the props and engines. From wing backwards was blood and guts, somehow right to the top of the vertical stab.

Almost pissed my pants laughing so hard (..I must be mentally deficient...), but trying to wash all the dried blood and guts off was something else!!!

Instant ace 4 times over!!! Tastes just like chicken......Partemafia 20 - flock 0

[minuteman]

Had one in DUB last year, a gull just as we touched down (on 29) on the left hand side. We saw him/her/it lying there as we taxyed off and gave the guys a call. Off out the van went, and as he approached it, it stood up and flew off! Strangest thing I ever saw. How do you write that up in the log??!!

[GJB]

I had a bird strike me outside a kebab shop. She took exception to my extra hot chill sauce.

[GulfStreamV]

Do you guys in the UK, have to pick up the bits, put the remains in a bag and send them off to the birds & fisheries commision or something? I'm trying to rattle my brains if this is true or B/Sht. Think I remember seeing it in an Air Law book? Not sure...

GV

[Saab340Pilot]

I've hit two birds, both in the Jetstream 31 when I was an FO on it. The first hit the Captain's windshield just before V1. I was looking at the airspeed indicator about to call V1 when he said **** and ducked almost below the glareshield. I saw a black bird hit the windshield square, leave NO mark, and bounce off left. He called the abort at V1 and we got it stopped, he was worried the bird had gone into #1. Inspection revealed a couple of feathers but not a dent or a bird setting a nest in the turbine. :-)

The second time another bird hit the Captain's window at 100 AGL on landing leaving a bloody hell of a mess. He passed the controls to me and we landed out of it. Again no apparent damage to anything.

The summary of my stories? Airline windshields do a very good job at stopping smaller birds and I attract windshield bird strikes (better than losing an engine to one though I suppose.)