CT4ME Posted September 20, 2015 Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 Ya know how, when you're driving along and you see birds playing "chicken" with traffic? You know, flying low across lanes of traffic, just barely missing the windshields? I swear they do it on purpose... A couple tried it today when we were flying along at about 6.5k (2500 agl).... 'Didn't turn out good for one... radiator after picking out a few pieces... no apparent damage. I'm pretty sure the paint crack at 2 o'clock was there already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anticept Posted September 20, 2015 Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 Make sure you report it. http://wildlife.faa.gov/strikenew.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted September 21, 2015 Report Share Posted September 21, 2015 Lucky it hit there. We had a chimney swift hit the canopy and punch out an elliptically shaped hole about 3 inches long and an inch and half tall, about mid-way up just past the edge of the post on the pilot's side. We were down for 10 weeks and the total bill was $10K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMonkey Posted September 21, 2015 Report Share Posted September 21, 2015 Taught that little guy a lesson, he won't make that mistake again! (for obvious reasons ) I agree with Andy, Tim lucked out. No real damage, just a nasty cleanup job. I know where I fly it's only a matter of time...there are so many turkey buzzards, starlings, and other avians around here that if I fly long enough we *will* try to occupy the same volume of space at some point. I hope when it happens it's as much a non-event as Tim's, or at least not as painful as Andy's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastEddieB Posted September 21, 2015 Report Share Posted September 21, 2015 Taught that little guy a lesson, he won't make that mistake again! (for obvious reasons ) Meh. Probably just a flesh wound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted September 21, 2015 Report Share Posted September 21, 2015 BTW, if this ever happens to you and you're curious about what species did the damage, they can make an i.d. with only a few scraps of feathers. That's how we knew it was a chimney swift...about a 2-3 oz. bird. I sent the feather scraps I scraped off to the Smithsonian lab at the address referred to by the link Corey provided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top Cat Posted September 21, 2015 Report Share Posted September 21, 2015 Suprising that it didn't show up as 'traffic' on your screen! After all…ADSB…A Dumb Stupid Bird…right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug G. Posted September 21, 2015 Report Share Posted September 21, 2015 The FAA needs to expand the mandate to birds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMonkey Posted September 21, 2015 Report Share Posted September 21, 2015 The FAA needs to expand the mandate to birds. The problem is they will mandate each individual bird pay for its own ADS-B installation, and most birds don't have jobs or bank accounts. I guess the FAA would just have to prohibit them from flying in A, B, C airspace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 Yeah, they'll have as much luck with that as they will with drones... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZAV8OR Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 What's the last thing that goes through a bird's brain when it hits your airplane? It's ass. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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