Damage from bird strike?

On Monday, December 2, 2019 at 3:14:34 PM UTC-5, Dave Nadler wrote:
On Monday, December 2, 2019 at 2:42:01 PM UTC-5, son_of_flubber wrote:
My policy is to only enter thermals well below raptors

Yikes - So when they "startle" and reflexively pull in their wings and dive,
they have the best chance of hitting you???

They've often demonstrated their ability to climb faster than me. They can fly much tighter turns and get into the core. I figure that entering below makes me immediately visible, I'm yielding the strategic dominant position, and they have options. If I enter above, the bird might feel vulnerable.

I've only once startled a raptor (hawk?) when I (stupidly) decided to follow after they left the thermal that we'd been sharing. I was not expecting to overtake them at the same altitude, but suddenly a minute later the raptor was cruising wings level in front of my left wing. And then he was a couple feet in front of my leading edge about eight feet to the left. He showed me his white underside and dove. Feeling bad about this, I updated my policy to never follow a raptor when they leave a shared thermal.

In 96 I experienced a turkey vulture strike on the vertical fin of the BASA club SGS 1-34 N7632 (November 2000 Soaring cover), near the Truckee California airport. It was a windy blue day at Truckee, strong but ratty south wind. Went up to look for wave, which was found to be weak. Spotted the vulture in the next wave upwind, went to join it. We both climbed and it headed upwind to the next stronger wave. I followed, coming up to it from behind and just off it's right wingtip. I was marveling at how graceful and optimized that vulture was, when it cranked a sudden right 180.

The canopy was suddenly full of rapidly approaching black feathers. I ducked. It cleared the canopy and I thought "oh ****!" but then I felt a thud from the tail. "Oh ****!!" Was glad that I brought a chute and reviewed the bailout procedure before takeoff. Wasn't relishing the idea of bailing out over a heavily forested area, but was ready. Gingerly remained in the wave, trying to figure out if the elevators were still working. Called on radio, to see if anyone could do a flyby for damage inspection. Turns out nobody else went up that day.

After doing very gentle pitch/yaw tests for 30 minutes, decided I still had full control. Decided to land, uneventfully. Field mechanic ruled the glider to be in a non-airworthy condition. Big dent in the middle of the vertical fin leading edge, collapsed the aluminum D tube. Club had to pay $5K to Schweizer, to break out the jigs and make another.

Clear your turns!

Ken
N412BK

On Monday, December 2, 2019 at 1:42:01 PM UTC-6, son_of_flubber wrote:
Very informative account. I'd assumed that raptors understood glider flight paths and had good situational awareness. My frequent encounters with Kestrel, Peregrine falcons have all been positive.

My policy is to only enter thermals well below raptors, but they will occasionally join me at same altitude.

Anecdotally, most glider/raptor interactions avoid collision.
Is a glider more likely to collide with a raptor or another glider?

In 2018, I changed altitude to avoid a large migrating gaggle of Canadian Geese (100+) in blue sky mountain wave at 8000. I thought it was a wisp of smoke in the laminar flow, but as it got closer it turned into a bumpy line. I had about five minutes to move, because they were crabbed to stay in the lift.

Geese are very focused on their task and I don't expect that they would have diverted. If you see a chevron, they're above or below you. A straight line might be same altitude. I wonder if TIS-B would identify a large gaggle?

TIS-B won't show a primary radar return. It only shows you Mode C and Mode S equipped aircraft.

Flown with many hawks, eagles and vultures, a few condors and fewer osprey.
It seems that when approaching below their altitude you're less likely to spook the bird.
If a hawk or eagle lowers the landing gear, it may be time to leave. From experience with golden and wedge tail eagles, they get quite aggressive near their nest when they have young.
The previously mentioned collision was due to a golden eagle joining the lift we had shared for a while. The hawk lost situational awareness, becoming lunch for the eagle.
Jim

I've heard of several accounts of bird strikes on the trailing edges of 1-26s......

Boggs

Originally Posted by Waveguru

I've heard of several accounts of bird strikes on the trailing edges of 1-26s......

Boggs

RRTFLMAO :-)