Near miss- Bird Strike

[Pmerems]

This is my first video post and my first near miss with a hawk on takeoff.

I was not very fast and rather low when I had to quickly maneuver. Thankfully the RV's are very controllable when you need them to be.

The video was captured in 1080p.

https://youtu.be/3Q6urgoVe5w

[rockwoodrv9]

That was pretty close Paul. So close to the ground too. Nice move missing him.

[donoltman]

I fly at 300' 7 hours a day. They occur every 10 minutes. I never move the stick. It's amazing how agile they are. They love to wait until the last second and then tuck. The hawks are very curious. The only time I have had to move was for a eagle spread out. He never moved and looked at me completely annoyed that I was in his space. Wonderful.
Don

[Steve Melton]

same experience with a bald eagle. they don't move. I came back around to verify. still held his/her airspace beautifully.

[RKellogg]

So, was that a white-tailed hawk? Did he have a bald head? Couldn't tell...but he didn't work too hard to evade.

A year ago, 3000 feet at cruise, saw a hawk 500 feet higher and off to right, as we safely passed, the hawk set up a dive, nearly matching our speed and flew in formation for a few seconds. He eventually ran out of energy and we pulled away.

[RV3bpilot]

Wow, that was close, I would have done the same as you did and move. Great job of missing it..

[DaleB]

Originally Posted by RKellogg

A year ago, 3000 feet at cruise, saw a hawk 500 feet higher and off to right, as we safely passed, the hawk set up a dive, nearly matching our speed and flew in formation for a few seconds. He eventually ran out of energy and we pulled away.

And he was probably left wondering how the heck you did that.

[RV7A Flyer]

Northern Harrier would be my guess. The white rump patch is a distinctive field mark.

[mr.sun]

Last fall we were southbound near Mt. Shasta at 11,500 and am now realizing how close we came to a nasty bird strike. I had recently installed the Aerosun LED landing lights in both leading edges. I glimpsed about a dozen birds below me in all sorts of haphazard orientations with their wings partially folded. Interesting, I thought. Then, within seconds, I passed a nice formation of geese at exactly my altitude far enough off the wingtip to watch them for a couple seconds but close enough to realize how big those things really are. My assumption now, is that the first squadron of geese saw me long before I saw them and all decided to dive below me. Kind of gives me the cold sweats now that I think of it. I now leave those bright LED lights on Wig-Wag during all phases of flight. I also have a pair of goggles I'm going to keep in easy reach.

[RVbySDI]

Originally Posted by donoltman

I fly at 300' 7 hours a day. They occur every 10 minutes. I never move the stick. It's amazing how agile they are. They love to wait until the last second and then tuck. The hawks are very curious. The only time I have had to move was for a eagle spread out. He never moved and looked at me completely annoyed that I was in his space. Wonderful.
Don

Originally Posted by Steve Melton

same experience with a bald eagle. they don't move. I came back around to verify. still held his/her airspace beautifully.

This past fall we had an experience with a Bald Eagle. We were climbing out through 2500' out of Rosecrans Airport (KSTJ) on the Missouri river. Just as I was going through 2500', without warning, there was a very large Bald Eagle about my 11 o'clock and I was climbing into it fast. There was no time at all to react as I passed by the bird. It was very close. I estimated maybe 25-30 feet at the most as I flew by him. There was no action I was able to take as everything happened in milliseconds. All I can say was we were very lucky. I just cannot imagine a 6' wingspan sized bird impacting the windscreen. The positive to the event was for that second I was as close as I have ever been to a beautiful bird like that. I just wish it were in different circumstances so I could have enjoyed the beauty of it.