Bird strike(s)

Jay Honeck wrote:

/snip/

Anyone ever hit a bird? Anyone got a good bird avoidance plan they'd care
to share?

I have been told that evidence indicates aircraft with operating weather
radars (i.e. turned "on") have statistically fewer bird strikes. FWIW.

Happy Flying!
Scott Skylane

Jay Honeck wrote:

Hitting a Canada Goose exerts the same force as dropping a 1000 pound weight
10 feet.

Yikes! That would make mince-meat out of ANY GA aircraft.

I smacked a Canadian during an off field landing in a glider. $500
worth of wing tip damage and a dead goose...

I lined up to land on the lawn of a corporate office park in NJ. I saw
the flock of geese around the small pond. My intent was fly my pattern
around them, overfly them and land further up the slope. As I turned
final, the flock took off flying into the wind along my final path.
Their climbing formation intersected by glide path about 20 feet AGL. A
perfect horizon of geese. I almost closed my eyes and then THUMP.

I thought I got one on the tail but it turned out to be a tip. I rolled
to a stop and started dreading the task of having to go back and
administer the coup de grace to a flopping, wounded goose.

When I got out and started back there was only a lifeless lump. But a
car had stopped and the driver had already jumped the guardrail and was
walking towards the goose. Having watched the landing and the
collision, he kept saying something about me being in trouble for
landing here and that I should go to the guard booth.

I was in glider outlanding mode which means smiling a lot and making it
clear that there is no problem. But he just kept heading towards the
goose. He got their first and to my surprise, he scooped it up and
headed back to his car, leaving me standing in the middle of the lawn
wondering what was going on.

He threw it his trunk, got back in the car and drove off. Goose dinner
I guess.

No, I don't know what exit it was.


We've got large flocks of (what appear to be) sea gulls congregating on our
field over the last few weeks. At this time of year we also get flocks of
migratory birds (ducks and geese) stopping over, too. The place looks like
a bird sanctuary.

I've come very close to hitting birds, but (knock on a burnt-orange Cessna
dashboard) thus far have gotten away clean. Last night, while landing in
the last glint of twilight, I saw a very large bird go zinging past me while
on short final. There was nothing I could do but cringe...

Anyone ever hit a bird? Anyone got a good bird avoidance plan they'd care
to share?

Sheesh! Glad he didn't care if you and the plane were ok!! Makes you want
to call him up the next time you hit a skunk with your car.
Jim

"Maule Driver" wrote in message
m...
Jay Honeck wrote:

Hitting a Canada Goose exerts the same force as dropping a 1000 pound
weight
10 feet.

Yikes! That would make mince-meat out of ANY GA aircraft.

I smacked a Canadian during an off field landing in a glider. $500
worth of wing tip damage and a dead goose...

I lined up to land on the lawn of a corporate office park in NJ. I saw
the flock of geese around the small pond. My intent was fly my pattern
around them, overfly them and land further up the slope. As I turned
final, the flock took off flying into the wind along my final path.
Their climbing formation intersected by glide path about 20 feet AGL. A
perfect horizon of geese. I almost closed my eyes and then THUMP.

I thought I got one on the tail but it turned out to be a tip. I rolled
to a stop and started dreading the task of having to go back and
administer the coup de grace to a flopping, wounded goose.

When I got out and started back there was only a lifeless lump. But a
car had stopped and the driver had already jumped the guardrail and was
walking towards the goose. Having watched the landing and the
collision, he kept saying something about me being in trouble for
landing here and that I should go to the guard booth.

I was in glider outlanding mode which means smiling a lot and making it
clear that there is no problem. But he just kept heading towards the
goose. He got their first and to my surprise, he scooped it up and
headed back to his car, leaving me standing in the middle of the lawn
wondering what was going on.

He threw it his trunk, got back in the car and drove off. Goose dinner
I guess.

No, I don't know what exit it was.


We've got large flocks of (what appear to be) sea gulls congregating on
our
field over the last few weeks. At this time of year we also get flocks
of
migratory birds (ducks and geese) stopping over, too. The place looks
like
a bird sanctuary.

I've come very close to hitting birds, but (knock on a burnt-orange
Cessna
dashboard) thus far have gotten away clean. Last night, while landing
in
the last glint of twilight, I saw a very large bird go zinging past me
while
on short final. There was nothing I could do but cringe...

Anyone ever hit a bird? Anyone got a good bird avoidance plan they'd
care
to share?

Jim Burns wrote:

Sheesh!Â*Â*GladÂ*heÂ*didn'tÂ*careÂ*ifÂ*youÂ*andÂ*t heÂ*planeÂ*wereÂ*ok!!

Hmm. I wonder what would have been for dinner had the pilot been hurt.

- Andrew

"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. While the goose
had given me visions of a lovely golden roasted breast and some delicious
foie gras, the pilot, now devoid from his machine, was much easier to
catch."

Jim

"Andrew Gideon" wrote in message
online.com...
Jim Burns wrote:

Sheesh! Glad he didn't care if you and the plane were ok!!

Hmm. I wonder what would have been for dinner had the pilot been hurt.

- Andrew

"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. While the goose
had given me visions of a lovely golden roasted breast and some delicious
foie gras, the pilot, now devoid from his machine, was much easier to
catch."

Hannibal the Cannibal Burns?

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Andrew Gideon wrote:
Jim Burns wrote:

Sheesh! Glad he didn't care if you and the plane were ok!!

Hmm. I wonder what would have been for dinner had the pilot been hurt.

If I had been less tongue tied, I like to think I would have told him,
"EAT ME"

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
[clipped]
Hitting a Canada Goose exerts the same force as dropping a 1000 pound
weight 10 feet.

Yikes! That would make mince-meat out of ANY GA aircraft.

Anyone ever hit a bird? Anyone got a good bird avoidance plan they'd care
to share?


I read an article few years ago about a bird watcher in Israel who
contacted the military after hearing about their bird strike problems. The
person had been studying migratory flocks of birds in Israel for decades.

It seems Israel is the flyway for three continents. There are more birds per
square mile over that region than anywhere else in the world - when they're
migrating. His solution for fewer damaged and destroyed aircraft was
migratory maps with historic dates, altitudes and flying condition overlays.

Military said they saw an immediate reduction (something like 50%) in
aircraft losses when they stopped flying where the flocks historically fly.
One pilot said the daily 'bird maps' are an important part of each
pre-flight now.

Israel and hundreds of millions of birds. Who knew? But I guess it makes
sense when you look at a globe.


Montblack

On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 12:38:48 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

Anyone ever hit a bird? Anyone got a good bird avoidance plan they'd care
to share?

My friend hit a goose in a Bonanza. 10,000 dollars later he had a
rebuilt wing. After studying it a bit we learned (fo geese) never
dive away as he did. They'll think you're the lead bird and follow.
A high performance plane can out climb a goose and is a preferred
technique. Other birds I'm not sure about.

Part of his story was watching the geese literally fold up their wings
and fall like a rock to keep up with him.

z

Jay
As posted here and on the rotorcraft boards over the past couple years,
I've had hundreds of bird strikes but the vast majority were below
200'agl. Some interesting stories out of them and some wisdom gained.
Ol Shy & Bashful