Football flags = mini windsocks!

[Bertie Thruster]

They have been really quite useful when landing at road accidents these last few days!

[Whirlygig]

However, they have not been useful when on a motorbike and a flag comes off the car in front and narrowly misses my head! :=

Cheers

Whirls

[bladeslapper]

I'm glad the flag missed you, but it would have brought a new meaning to bird-strike. Also demonstrates the wisdom of helmets, though lets not start that thread again here.;) ;)

[Pandalet]

unlike a bird suiciding into your helicopter, though, a flag hitting a biker in the face isn't likely to do much damage (assuming the visor is down), but it might well obscure vision and divert attention for that one critical moment. That's what I worry about, anyway :ooh:

[Whirlygig]

Well, when a maybug hits you on the chest at a closing speed of 70mph, it can wind you and then don't forget, the perennial favourite, the driver who chucks his fag end out the window :* One of those flags could take a motorcyclist out :ouch:

Cheers

Whirls

[bauldrik]

got hit in the visor by a drogon fly once , hell of a bang at 110 mph and had to stop to cleen the thing and a pheasant in the leg and fairing at 70 , that hurt , thing was a big bugger .

sorry nouthing to do with this thread but the bird strike one may be :)

[Whirlygig]

All this talk of birdstrike is bothering me a tad! :}

Cheers

Whirls

[Cron]

We get the reverse from time to time i.e. bird striking a/c rather than a/c striking bird. I'm talking Hang gliders here (Long Mynd, UK, breeding season).

They 'attack' from behind and above and give you a 'thump' which they appear to engineer so as to make the sail resonate - making the hit feel and sound more dramatic than actually is. They must be claws closed on impact because there is never any damage - and you never see their approach or departure.

What puzzles us is that there are a lot of wires up top (on a kingposted hang glider) and some nifty manoeuvering is required to thread through them, deliver thump and thread back out.

At the time it's unnerving but afterwards you kind of feel privileged.

Sorry Bertie, just seen my post was off-topic.

[crispy69]

I had a bumble bee fly right into the middle of my visor at 140km/hr once, Aside from giving me one hell of a fright it sure made a big mess too! You would be surprized how much juice there is in a bumble bee.

Another time I came within one foot of a hawk at 180km/hr he was flying towards me too, Funny thing was as we passed we both looked over our shoulders made eye contact and the thought was mutual, F^&k im glad I didnt hit that thing!!!! :eek:

Have hit quiet a few birds in the chest hurts a little but much worse for bird,
Would much rather hit on bike than in helicopter.

Crispy

[Whirlygig]

Well, I have a birdstrike in a helicopter on my third solo circuit! Not sure which I'd prefer!

Cheers

Whirls

Bertie, you had better come back and put your thread on track!

[ShyTorque]

Hi Bertie, I trust the locals are still keeping you busy then!

It's not the flags that hurt motorcyclists - it's the plastic poles they are flying from. The M1 is littered with the damn things; they aren't strong enough for 70 mph plus!

Once had a multiple guinea fowl strike whilst doing 60 mph on the old souped up Beesa down a country lane. A flock of them ran out from a hedge and straight across the road right in front of me, very nearly fetched me off the bike. The impact killed two fowl outright and broke the bike's headlight glass. A third bird was badly crippled as it bounced hard off my right knee. The latter bird I felt obliged to finish off by wringing its neck. While I hobbled back to catch it my knee was swelling up like a balloon and there was a huge cloud of grey feathers in the air. I collected up the three dead birds and took 'em to the farm door a few hundred yards back. The farmer's wife nearly fainted when she saw me and immediately asked if I was all right and did I need an ambulance. I said not, got back on the bike and went home where I had exactly the same effect on my mother! When I looked in the hall mirror, I realised why - I was covered from head to foot in blood and feathers. :O

[thecontroller]

don't worry, when we get kicked out of the world cup amid the usual tabloid cries of "we were robbed by hitler" etc, all the flags will disappear...

[Pandalet]

To be fair, one of the most painful experiences I've ever had is catching a small bug in the small gap between the top of my leathers and the bottom of my helmet at around 100mph, while out road-testing the new gixxer. Also one of the most disgusting and messy :yuk:

I can honestly say, I've never had a birdstrike, whether in a helicopter or on a bike... mind you, there was that one time my gf refused to do the washing up :E

[airborne_artist]

Think yourself lucky it wasn't a deer strike. One launched itself at SWMBOs Golf offside going through the Chilterns. Dented the door and the sill by about 3". Would have been very nasty on a bike.

[amanoffewwords]

the driver who chucks his fag end out the window
I once returned the compliment by chucking a lit fag end back in the car it came out of [but making sure said car was stuck in traffic]. You should have been there http://www.ecusb.net/smf/Smileys/default/loool.gif