Just wanted to post a few more details about the incident I posted earlier. We were pretty close to Balboa Park (2-3 miles SW of the airport) at 2000' MSL (~1200AGL) following the 101 eastbound. We can not say with exact certainty what hit us as we never saw anything. Whatever it was made a loud impact, shattered the windshield, cracked the instrument cluster and shook our Robbie. We were doing 70-75kts. Initially I thought we'd hit a large bird and reported it as such to KVNY tower. A post flight inspection did not reveal the slightest trace of blood/feathers, leading me to believe we'd hit a drone. It is in my opinion the most logical explanation as Van Nuys is a hotbed for drone sightings/near misses. There's also a specialty drone store about 1 mile from where I was impacted. I don't want to point fingers, but one has to wonder.
I also wanted to mention we had a drone sighting at 1000AGL near 91/605, and another instructor had a near TR miss near El Monte airport. Something has to be done sooner than later. I think drones are neat, but not at 1200AGL.
If anybody has any information or hears about anyone recently losing a drone near Balboa Park, please report it to Van Nuys FSDO at (818) 904-6291.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
M.