Bird strike

Yellowbird said:
On August 30, 2011, about 1800 eastern daylight time, a bird of unknown make/model was destroyed when it collided with a Cessna 177B shortly after takeoff from runway 10 at Delaware Municipal Airport (DLZ), Delaware, Ohio.
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Hah... Love the writeup!
 
Sac Arrow said:
If you have a choice, pull up and climb. Birds instinctively dive when threatened.
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Well, maybe.

An August 2008 AOPA Pilot article reads:

Some of the best insight into bird behavior comes from wildlife biologists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services laboratory near Sandusky, Ohio. Research biologist Richard A. Dolbeer and his colleagues recently combed 56,000 civil-aviation bird strike records from 1990 to 2003, and found 633 in which pilots noted what the bird did or didn't do.

There were 266 reports out of the 633 involving birds encountered in the air. Of those, the greatest number — 73 — dived or descended to avoid the airplane, as you might expect. But 46 birds climbed. Sixty-two had no reaction at all — perhaps they just shrugged their wings as if to say, "Oh well." Five unfortunate birds attempted to out-fly the aircraft. Four, including those on the ground, got angry, attacked, and lost.
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The article went on to say that birds tend to dive when above 500' agl and climb when below 500' agl.

So, flip a coin.
 
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Consider yourself lucky. Have you seen the bird strike story on the AOPA website? Talk about something to wake you up, go listen to that one.
 
rottydaddy said:
FWIW, you'd be surprised how they can miss the prop... I once just barely missed a small, fast-flying bird when it came across the cowl, between the prop and windscreen, just as I was taking off. It seemed impossible- that was one lucky bird! Your hawk or whatever may have been trying to evade and turned at that last moment; maybe its actual trajectory was different than you think.
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I had a buzzard dive between the back of my prop and the LE of my right wing once, I was watching it thinking "Don't dive, don't dive, CRAP!":hairraise:

That would have done some damage, heck the school 172 that ran over a goose from behind on final (yes really:lol:) needed a new LE skin and a rib repair.
 
I took a sparrow on the prop in a 172 during my PPL training, just as I was rotating off the runway. Saw it coming, watched it almost in slow motion, the prop blade got him and smeared him across most of the right side of the windshield. I would never have believed a bird that small could make a mess that big. I was solo and my instructor was doubled up laughing on the ground so hard he couldn't even talk on the radio.

When it happened I was already committed to flight, had good visibility out the left side of the windshield, just made the pattern and landed.
 
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