Oklahoma Thunder charter jet hits a "bird"!

I'm thinking it was probably a Pterodactyl.

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That looks really bad. Could the windshield sustain a hit had it been higher?

 

An adult goose would and could do that. Chickens have been fired into test windshields to verify strength. Don't know if they have done it with geese.

 

I think that I may have mentioned this before but a Boeing test pilot friend of mine overtook a goose at 7000ft. at night in IFR conditions west of Florence, Oregon. He was flying a C206 and fortunately it didn't damage the propeller but put a huge dent in the cowling. You never know where or when you will find these things.

 

Sandhill Cranes are another possibility. We could see them on our F-111 radars when they would migrate. Very large birds in very large flocks.

 

I remembered a story about windshield tests where a firm in the UK fired a chicken THROUGH the windshield and questioned their design. They had failed to thaw the bird from its frozen condition and it was an effective artillery shell.

 

Bob- Never was sure whether that was a joke or not.

 

I can't verify it now but it was a topic of conversation at work some years back. A 10-12 pound goose can do some awesome damage at 600mph.

 

A goose can do some awesome damage on the ground. as well. A Dash 8 hit one on a departure shattering a blade on the prop and taking out a passenger window. http://avherald.com/h?article=478ab28f&opt=0

 

No blood - a drone?

 

are we sure it didn't just get punched by Chevy Chase?


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I saw a C310 that took a big bird in the nose on the ramp in Opa Locka. The pilot was a German student pilot building twin time in a rented plane. He was in the FBO bathroom washing off blood. I had to ask him what happened and he told me he hit a bird and the nose bent enough to allow the bird to squeeze in between the nose and surrounding sheet metal. Thus he was coated in bird parts.

I hit a flock of seagulls on departure back in 05. 3 million in damages. Both flaps, leading edge, #2 engine tear down (5 or 6 blades IIRC) and sheet metal work by the co pilots feet. The #1 AOA still had feathers wrapped around it when we landed.

 

Someone better check on Khaleesi's Dragons…

 

The ramp is wet in the photo so if the plane came in through a shower there is a good chance that the rain pressure washed the nose cone.

 

Amazing what a bird strike can do. Hit a Plover (actually several) during a low level in Turkey at around 540 knots. Punched a hole completely through an aluminum slat. Slat did not work so flaps locked out. No flap, no slat at about 190 knots, but long runway (10k') so no sweat. Hit birds two days in a row. Crew chief asked us to please no fly her airplane any more.

 

Could have been worse Taz.

http://www.usahas.com/AHAS2015/gallery/image.aspx?image=F111%20Bird%20Strike

 

Affirmative, looks like somebody finally hit Hank the Hawk on that low level route west of Cannon AFB. We saw him just about every time we flew that route, usually as he was diving to get out of our way. Or they hit a Sandhill Crane, whose migration route goes up and down through New Mexico.

 

As a schoolboy I went on a trip to the NGTE (National Gas Turbine Establishment), where they were testing Olympus engines for Concord. One test involved firing large chicken carcasses into the air intakes with an improvised catapult. The engines were not running during our visit but I was always curious if they sustained any serious damage. The engines that is!