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  #21  
Old 03-15-2020, 11:47 AM
Ralph Inkster Ralph Inkster is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Calgary, Alberta
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Speed is a factor, at some point the little guys can't evade.

A few years ago a RV-8 caught a little black bird on the Reno race course, he had a dint the size of a grapefruit on his leading edge.

Same year HRII Race 57 bounced that bird's cousin off his lower cowling at about 280 mph, the carbon weave exploded where the bird impacted and I had to do some quick cowling lay up repairs that evening.

& there was Race 49, Bob's plane...

& then there is Goose, he earned his call sign the hard way
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Last edited by Ralph Inkster : 03-15-2020 at 02:56 PM.
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  #22  
Old 03-15-2020, 12:41 PM
F1 Rocket F1 Rocket is offline
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Melboring, FL
Posts: 180
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rocketman1988 View Post
It is also kind of bird dependent as to what to do; a turkey vulture presents a great deal more risk than a sparrow...
A friend of mine hit a turkey buzzard on short final in an RV8. The strike was on the leading edge of the wing tank. The buzzard penetrated all the way to the main spar bursting the tank and actually bending the spar. My friend said the airplane yawed 90?. He?s pretty thankful to still be around.
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  #23  
Old 03-15-2020, 01:31 PM
rv4bill rv4bill is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: orlando
Posts: 187
Default Buzzard

Danny,

The buzzard/rv8 incident was during that rv8?s initial test flight. Talk about bad luck
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  #24  
Old 03-15-2020, 01:45 PM
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skylor skylor is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Southern California
Posts: 882
Default Bird Strike

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Inkster View Post
Speed is a factor, at some point the little guys can't evade.

A few years ago a RV-8 caught a little black bird on the Reno race course, he had a dint the size of a grapefruit on his leading edge.

Same year HRII Race 57 bounced that bird's cousin off his lower cowling at about 180mph, the carbon weave exploded where the bird impacted and I had to do some quick cowling lay up repairs that evening.
Yep, that was me. I still won the race. I was doing about 200 KTAS at the time. I thought the bird hit the gear leg and no adverse effects were noticed immediately after. The impact was just outboard of the left fuel tank so the tank was removed and 95% of the dent was worked out of the leading edge.

All I saw when it happened was a very brief brown flash out of the corner of my eye and nearly simultaneously I felt a "pop" under floor...which is why I thought it hit the gear. The bird/remains were visible in exactly 2 frames of my GoPro video.

Skylor
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  #25  
Old 03-15-2020, 02:00 PM
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RWoodard RWoodard is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Brighton, Colorado
Posts: 393
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wirejock View Post
Rod
Was your friend a EAA Tech Counselor?
If so, he was my first TC. Very smart man.
Yes. That sounds like him. The accident happened near Erie. One of those things I?ll never forget. I stopped by my hangar on the way to work that afternoon and noticed his car was still parked near his hangar. This was odd because he normally went to lunch on Wednesdays (I think it was Wednesdays) and then was back home and gone from the airport by 1:30 or so. His widow called me later that evening with the news. I still think of him often.
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  #26  
Old 03-15-2020, 03:25 PM
RV74ME RV74ME is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Auburn, AL
Posts: 200
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Another thing to consider....

Most of my birdstrikes have occurred at night (larger airplane). When you can?t see them. Thought about that last night as I?m descending into the airport in my RV with a TAS of 175kts...wouldn?t like to take one thru the windscreen at that time!
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  #27  
Old 03-15-2020, 04:50 PM
Tankerpilot75 Tankerpilot75 is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Posts: 534
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Back in USAF pilot training days I was part of a T37 two ship on initial getting ready for for the break when lead aircraft said over the radio ?birds.? We called ?breaking right? and pulled up as we broke to the right adding full power. All of a sudden we heard thump, thump.

Two Sandhill cranes hit the bottom center of the aircraft. These birds are not small and had they hit the canopy at the speed we were flying it would have been ugly. Of course we did a controllability check (okay), declared an emergency (being conservative) and subsequently flew a straight in approach. Damage to the aircraft was minimal with two small impact marks and blood stains observed after landing. I?ve also experienced a few other bird impacts flying the KC135. Only one of those actually damaged anything and that one took out an inboard engine - not a big deal when you?ve got three others working just fine.

To this day I always pay attention to bird activity knowing full well that air impact is seldom a good thing but usually survivable as long as you don?t do something silly like stalling the aircraft close to the ground. Birds will usually try to dive to avoid contact - just be sure you don?t stall trying to avoid them.
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  #28  
Old 03-15-2020, 05:11 PM
David Paule David Paule is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Boulder, CO
Posts: 4,435
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Although some folks have reported the results, generally not severe, of a bird strike on large airplanes, it might appear that we really don't have much to worry about. Don't forget that our airplanes are built much lighter than the heavy iron.

Dave
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  #29  
Old 03-15-2020, 06:16 PM
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RV7A Flyer RV7A Flyer is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: US
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dwranda View Post
Is that a European or an African swallow?
"How do you know so much about swallows?"
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  #30  
Old 03-15-2020, 07:55 PM
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wcalvert wcalvert is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Anacortes Wa
Posts: 81
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"That bird is DEAD"...

"No it's not, it's resting!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZw35VUBdzo
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