Highest ALT for bird strike?

[plugster]

FL200 out of Antalya, Turkey. TAS 406. Sounded like somebody opened a bottle of champaign.

[Speedbird48]

Pan Am hit a Goose at 32'0 near Gander many years ago. It hit just below the cockpit widows and put a large dent in the front.

I believe it was United that lost a Viscount over Maryland after a Swan took one of the horizontal stabalizers off at 22'0!!

Bugs at 10'0 or higher is not unusual in the area of thunderstorms. I got the front covered in large squiggy grasshoppers at 12'0 over the mid west as I passed behind a line of thunderstorms.

Speedbird 48

[Big Hammer]

I read many years ago of bugs and birds being taken up to well over 20,000ft by updraughts in stormy conditions. I wonder if building debris (Planks and bricks etc) could also be taken up to these heights?

BH

[Mach E Avelli]

Only last week one of our aircraft had a hawk or some similar big bird take out a windscreen at 19000 feet. Shattered it to the point that the crew thought it prudent to depressurize immediately.
Admittedly it was over mountains in PNG so the bird was only about 4500ft agl.
Maybe birds attack aircraft because they become aggressive when hypoxic?

[Dave Gittins]

My understanding as a mere PPL is that there is a general speed limit of 250 kts below 10,000 to avoid doing too much damage if a bird strike occurs.

I recall seeing a TV programme once where turkeys were blasted at a windscreen by a cannon to demonstrate / validate this.

Have I got this right or has life moved on ?

What is birdstrike protection speed on a Q-400 belw 14 K ? and do other aeroplanes have their own specified limits ?

[Speedbird48]

Dave,

The 250kts below 10'0 is an ATC thing for conrollers benefit and there are some exceptions out there these days.

Bird speed can vary depending on aircraft type.

Chickens are used to check the resistance of windscreens.

I know nothing about the Q400!!

Speedbird 48.

[onetrack]

I can recall a serious incident, probably a couple of decades ago, involving a bloke in a twin flying to an island offshore, on the NW coast of Western Australia, when he clobbered a white-bellied sea eagle.

The eagle shattered the windscreen, hit the PIC in the face and knocked out several of his front teeth. He retained control of the aircraft and landed safely, but it must have been a very nasty experience.
I cannot find any record of the incident, but perhaps I'm using incorrect search terms, or perhaps the incident is buried in archives that are not accessible online.

[Tcraft41]

On final at Iowa City, IA in a Cherokee 140 about 1962 with about ~ 20 hours TT.

Very loud thud and yawed to the left, pushed in some rudder and continued to land. While taxiing back to tie down I noticed a bump near the LE of the left wing.

Closer look showed a ~ 6 inch hole in the LE. By the feathers it was a Mallard duck that was on a reciprocal course. They had to remove part of the outer wing skin pannel to remove the shredded remains.

For those not familiar with Mallards they are big and heavy.

[lomapaseo]

My understanding as a mere PPL is that there is a general speed limit of 250 kts below 10,000 to avoid doing too much damage if a bird strike occurs.

I recall seeing a TV programme once where turkeys were blasted at a windscreen by a cannon to demonstrate / validate this.

Have I got this right or has life moved on ?

sometimes correct, often not.

Regulations are not that specfic. More often experience based (equivalent safety).

Gelatin birds work fine in many test cases and by the time you get them up to 200 kts or so the differences between bird makeups aren't all that significant to the outcome to either the object or the target

Thus the 250 kt 4 lb bird test on aircraft structures seem to cover most of the experience base. Go faster or hit bigger and expect more damage. Most risk for large transports is adressed by the redundancy and/or shielding of critical systems against most bird strike.

It's a matter of a combination of ruggedness and avoidance. The avoidance is aided by keeping below 250 kts in high bird activity areas.

In spite of how fast, how high and how big, anything goes, but probabilities are what counts when it comes to beating what mother nature deals up.

[Dave Gittins]

Thanks Speedbird48 and lomopaseo for putting me straight on 250 kts and 10 K

So 250 isn't hard and fast but it's a matter of exercise more caution if lots are birds are expected .. play the odds.

Shame nobody spotted the geese before Sully got there.

Still interested to know what "birdstrike protection speed beliw 14,000 feet on the Q-400" means.

Maybe have to stroll round to Pier 1 and find a Flybe driver to ask.

[TAAMGuy]

I remember years ago reading a USAF flight safety publication detailing a snake strike by an F-4 at ~FL450. Apparently it had been sucked up in a tornado, which must have been close by. Also read a flight safety report of a B737 hitting a salmon on departure. An eagle was flying by with the fish in it's talons and the '37 scared it into dropping it's dinner. Hit a windscreen if I remember correctly. On the other side of the coin, I hit a bird on touchdown in a Bell 212 with the rotor. It was just a little 'pop' and a very small cloud of feathers and such. So a very low 10' AGL.

[MagnusP]

Excuse a pax intrusion, but this BBC article may be of some interest.

BBC Nature - Bar-headed geese in high-flying wind tunnel test

For those not familiar with Mallards they are big and heavy.

And delicious.