Bird strike

A fellow Aztec owner & A&P A/I just repaired another Aztec that had
supposedly hit a goose. It hit just inboard of the joint between the end of
the stub spar and the wing tip. Leading edge was pushed back to the spar.
Stub spar was bent. Wing tip destroyed. Piper factory tip tank enclosure
destroyed. Bladder ruined. De-ice boot ruined. He was actually able to
straighten the stub spar. Found a used tank enclosure, a new bladder, and
re skinned it. I was only able to get there to take pictures after he had
the old skin off and had straightened and reinstalled the stub spar.

This same A&P and his entire family grew up flying in the Wisconsin Horicon
Marsh.... tens of thousands of geese occupy this marsh several times each
year.... none of them had ever hit a goose. They all claim that geese will
dive away well in advance of the approaching airplane. They also say that
seagulls are absolutely suicidal airplane hunting idiots.

My own bird experience has been one dead on windshield strike of a hawk (we
think, from examination of remaining feathers) in a 182RG at full cruise, no
damage, just scared the crap out of me and splattered the hawk up the
windshield and over the cabin roof. Sounded like a bomb went off inside the
cockpit. And several near misses of sand hill cranes.... dumbest birds I've
ever seen. Turn their heads and watch you fly by.

Jim

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
m...
Jase Vanover wrote:
I posted yesterday about my first solo, and planned to do some more
uneventful circuits today but ended up having a postable experience once
again.

Congrats...you did the right thing: Fly the plane (you can freak out
later).

I once took a large bird in the wing and it pushed the leading edge back
to the spar.