The BIRDS

Have hit a couple of small birds but there were two others of a larger
variety.
I was flying over Suisun Bay area in Northern California in a Bell Jet
Ranger. It was just after sundown and a rather hazy evening. Suddenly
there was a loud BAM! It sounded like someone hit the helicopter with a
baseball bat. After sucking up the seat and realizing that I was still
flying and all the instruments were showing normal, I relaxed a bit. I was
carrying a photographer in a camera mount behind me. She starts yelling on
the intercom, "EEEEWWWW!!!" Dripping down onto her leg were blood, guts and
feathers. After landing it was determined by the feathers I had hit a duck.
I few inches lower and it would have come through the windshield right in
front on me. It had hit right at the top edge of the windshield and went
right into the cowling above, putting a dent there. Fortunately it didn't
get into the rotors or tail rotor. It was just a bit messy. Sure scarred
me at first though.
The other incident invovled another big bird. Just after touching down
in a Cessna Cardinal I see a pheasant walking across the runway in front of
me. He just kept walking and I hit it with my right wheel. The county
sent someone out to retrieve the carcass. Later I was told the line guy
ended up having it for dinner. At least he didn't have buckshot to spit
out.


"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
...
How many of you have experienced a bird strike?

I apparently had one the other day and didn't even know it until I was
wiping the airplane down and found a tuft of feathers on the prop's
leading edge, right at the tip. No damage to the airplane and no guts
splattered on the airplane. Maybe I just winged the bird and it survived,
minus a few feathers.

Birdshot is used to shoot birds, sizes are small, common
sizes at 4,6,7-1/2, and 8 for upland birds such as quail,
larger birds such as pheasants and waterfowl need larger
sizes such as 2's. These are still half the diameter of a
BB. BB sized soft steel is used for geese. Deer are hunted
in some places with buckshot [male deer is a buck] and these
range in size from #4 Buck which is .25 inches dia. to 00
and 000 buckshot which are larger. Birdshot such as #6 will
have about 250 pellets per ounce, while #4 Buck will be
about 18 pellets and 00 buck is 9 pellets.

As far as bird strikes go, they are common during take-off
and landings because the cities seem to think land fills are
a good use for land near the airport. Birds rarely survive,
airplanes are sometimes lost. I remember seeing a Cessna
T210 that hit a goose near Liberal, KS that took out 90% of
the windshield at cruise at 17,000. The impact was on the
copilot's side and the pilot was solo. Good thing, the big
bird ripped out the windshield, broke the seat back and was
found in the tail cone.

In Tulsa about 30 years ago, a DC-10 lost two engines when
it sucked up about 10,000 starlings and made it around on
the center engine for a landing. I was a student at Spartan
at the time. The USAF spends millions of dollars every year
on birdstrikes.

Most windshields are just that, wind shields and are not
bird proof.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.


"Torman" wrote in message
news | Have hit a couple of small birds but there were two
others of a larger
| variety.
| I was flying over Suisun Bay area in Northern California
in a Bell Jet
| Ranger. It was just after sundown and a rather hazy
evening. Suddenly
| there was a loud BAM! It sounded like someone hit the
helicopter with a
| baseball bat. After sucking up the seat and realizing
that I was still
| flying and all the instruments were showing normal, I
relaxed a bit. I was
| carrying a photographer in a camera mount behind me. She
starts yelling on
| the intercom, "EEEEWWWW!!!" Dripping down onto her leg
were blood, guts and
| feathers. After landing it was determined by the feathers
I had hit a duck.
| I few inches lower and it would have come through the
windshield right in
| front on me. It had hit right at the top edge of the
windshield and went
| right into the cowling above, putting a dent there.
Fortunately it didn't
| get into the rotors or tail rotor. It was just a bit
messy. Sure scarred
| me at first though.
| The other incident invovled another big bird. Just
after touching down
| in a Cessna Cardinal I see a pheasant walking across the
runway in front of
| me. He just kept walking and I hit it with my right
wheel. The county
| sent someone out to retrieve the carcass. Later I was
told the line guy
| ended up having it for dinner. At least he didn't have
buckshot to spit
| out.
|
|
| "Kyle Boatright" wrote in
message
| ...
| How many of you have experienced a bird strike?
|
| I apparently had one the other day and didn't even know
it until I was
| wiping the airplane down and found a tuft of feathers on
the prop's
| leading edge, right at the tip. No damage to the
airplane and no guts
| splattered on the airplane. Maybe I just winged the bird
and it survived,
| minus a few feathers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|