Originally Posted by First.officer
Mystery solved?
Dont't think so, the cited source does not appear to be too reliable.
I've seen the traces of several bird strikes (including a large seagull that hit the side window of a 73' on takeoff, managed to squeeze it open about 2-3 milimetres, and then proceeded to enter the cockpit through that gap, flesh, beak, bones, feathers & all...). A bird strike leaves quite a bit of a mess... Also 8000 metres is very high, have heard of vultures getting up that high, but a bird of that size hitting at 500mph would do more than a dent. Based on info from more knowledgable posters on this thread, I'd vouch for a balloon till proven otherwise.