Bird strike in a Cessna Skycatcher

Salty

Salty

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Salty
Caught a bird leaving Punta Gorda this morning. Flew through a flock of 20 or 30 of them, they all managed to dodge me but this one. If you watch close you can see the others passing by before he hits.


I'm pretty amazed that it didn't do any damage even being a small one. The windshield is pretty thin.


BirdStrike1.jpg BirdStrike2.jpg BirdStrike3.jpg BirdStrike4.jpg
 
Are you sure you hit it? By the looks of the video, it just barely got nicked if anything. I had a bird strike on takeoff a couple months ago and it struck the windscreen dead on and all, leaving some blood but no damage either.
 
Ryanb said:
Are you sure you hit it? By the looks of the video, it just barely got nicked if anything. I had a bird strike on takeoff a couple months ago and it struck the windscreen dead on and all, leaving some blood but not damage either.
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You don't see the bird guts on the windshield?
 
I caught a bird once - it was a dark bird at night. Grazed the top part of the windshield. The contact made a loud pop - I thought my passenger's seat slipped (which really had me worried until we were able to verify she was locked in). After landing and scrubbing bugs I found a pile of feathers welded to the top of the windscreen. No damage to the plane. Took a bit of elbow grease to clean off.
 
In a related story, we had a ruffed grouse fly directly into a window over our kitchen sink while we were eating breakfast. Sounded like a gunshot in the house. Broke its neck and killed it instantly. I cleaned it and we had it for lunch... deLICious. The window was fine. I was amazed.
 
Salty said:
Gotta love POA. Even when you catch in on video it didn't happen.
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I didn’t say it didn’t happen, now you’re putting words in my mouth. Saying that you barely nicked him is quite obvious and it’s a good thing. Better than hitting it straight on and fracturing the windscreen.
 
kaiser said:
I caught a bird once - it was a dark bird at night. Grazed the top part of the windshield. The contact made a loud pop - I thought my passenger's seat slipped (which really had me worried until we were able to verify she was locked in). After landing and scrubbing bugs I found a pile of feathers welded to the top of the windscreen. No damage to the plane. Took a bit of elbow grease to clean off.
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I think it's likely they will hit the top of the shield. If they are lower the prop will hit them, if they are any higher than that the slip stream will push them up and they will hit at an angle. Fortunately.
 
Salty said:
I don't know about the words in your mouth part.
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I’m not trying to create an argument here, I’m just commenting that it looked quite minor, which is a good thing.
 
I really hate the “thump” of a large bird hitting a leading edge. No fun after looking at the damage on a beautiful flying day otherwise.
 
Good thing the bird was a male. The females are larger and heavier.
 
Hit a big ol' seagull with the nose gear of a hawker once. He got wedged in there really good. I was waiting for maintenance to show up, and a guy from the airport authority came and took the carcass and put it in a big ziploc bag and went away.
 
Ryanb said:
I’m not trying to create an argument here, I’m just commenting that it looked quite minor, which is a good thing.
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Minor for the plane and pilot. RIP for the bird.
 
If you didn't have the pics, I would've been the bird would have overtaken you from behind in a Skycatcher.
 
Mine was a cormorant that was part of a flock. It hit the metal strip at the top of the windshield on a 56 172. No damage but a black oily streak that stunk to high heaven and was hard to scrub off.

Glad you’re OK
 
One of our guys took a hawk head on, in a 172; destroyed the plexiglas as it came through, and it all collapsed. He said it took full power to maintain altitude after the giant air scoop was formed.
 
I see it a lot on jets(I’m in claims). I’d say bird strikes are the one of the most common aircraft claims submitted. We all know they can take down planes, so I’ll offer a funny story: One our operators flying an Airbus hello had a sparrow piece the windscreen like a bullet and smack a tourist right in the forehead. Most of the energy was diffused on the windscreen so she was mildly injured. Well they made an emergency landing, called in a Medavac helo to land and take her to the hospital where she didn’t even need stitches.
 
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