Bird impacts military training flight.

[loadpin]

Amazing what this bird did to the cockpit canopy.

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[Deleted member 29014]

After several FOI requests, the USAF finally released gun camera photos just prior to impact.

 

[BigAl07]

That did more damage than I would have thought.

Bet that stunk pretty bad in just a few hours.....

 

[MapMaker53]

I've been to several airshows featuring the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. They put on a show close to my location every year, and I'm amazed that they don't encounter more bird strikes than they do -- screaming down the ocean shoreline with lots of Sea Gulls in the area.

 

[sar104]

That did more damage than I would have thought.

Bet that stunk pretty bad in just a few hours.....

And that was a glancing impact by a soft, low-density object.

 

[loadpin]

After several FOI requests, the USAF finally released gun camera photos just prior to impact.

View attachment 107246

Looks like the Aflac Duck...

 

[Raptorman0909]

Image not showing up for me...


Brian

 

[Raptorman0909]

View attachment 107248

No, the 1st post video link wasn't working, but I was at a coffee shop at the time so I think it was limited access to YT that caused the problem. I'm back home now and was able to view the video. We've talked about the kind of damage a bird can do at 500mph so this incident at something less that 400mph is no real surprise.


Brian

 

[Bad Andy]

A bird struck my motorcycle helmet yesterday. Darn things, oughta' be outlawed!

 

[Astrix]

After several FOI requests, the USAF finally released gun camera photos just prior to impact.

View attachment 107246

Can’t stop laughing at this .... very funny. Good humour.

 

[nscaler2]

A bird struck my motorcycle helmet yesterday. Darn things, oughta' be outlawed!

At the very least they need to get an FAA 107 license. LOL

 

[Bad Andy]

At the very least they need to get an FAA 107 license. LOL

Twin-engine instrument rating, is more like like it.

I dodged and ducked and missed about five but one got me. Bastiches.

 

[African wildlife]

That did more damage than I would have thought.

Bet that stunk pretty bad in just a few hours.....

I was in the cockpit of a British RAF C130 (Hercules) transport plane in 1985. We were in Ethiopia during the famine. A bird blasted a large hole in the nose of the C130 at least 18 inches across, if not bigger. From memory, it was a bird of prey. If the impact had been a bit to one side, it would have caused a mid-air explosion - I think because of hitting a gas cylinder - and I wouldn't be posting this today.

We made it back to Addis Ababa and the RAF engineers had everything patched up with sheet metal by first thing the following morning so the food aid transportation could continue.

I've often thought about posting this story, especially when some claim that drones would have little to no impact on an aircraft. Recently, in the UK, at the time of the Gatwick shutdown, slow motion footage from a testing centre was shown on TV several times and the impact can potentially be severe - at least on some aircraft. A bird's body is relatively soft and can easily collapse , whereas the structural design of a drone is significantly rigid or stronger.