RV-4 Turkey Vulture Birdstrike in FL

[Av8torTom]

I'll bet you stalling an airplane with that kind of wing damage could be VERY exciting... Be sure your spin avoidance/recovery techniques are up to snuff

[rbibb]

Originally Posted by Silent_Flyer

Impressive damage.. Is anyone aware of a bird strike to the canopy in an RV-4?

A few years ago I was flying along under a low overcast at about 1,500' AGL heading south of my airport to where the weather was much better and I planned to climb to cruising altitude for a trip to SC. You could say it was scud running but I was intimately familiar with the terrain and route on the corridor I was flying and had good evidence from radar and satellite imagery that the good weather was about 20 miles away. Nevertheless the pucker factor was higher and the level of attention I was paying to what I was doing was elevated given the circumstances. About that time I saw a flash headed toward me and then a very loud "BANG" sound. I flinched instinctively as a bird stuck my RV-4 canopy dead center in front of my face. In short it scared the S*** out of me.

After what seemed like quite some time but was in fact a few seconds I realized all was well, the canopy did not even crack even as blood and guts remained smeared on the canopy.

I don't know what type of bird it was as their was not enough evidence left to suggest once I landed in SC (yes I completed the trip). Based on the very instantaneous glance I got of it before impact I would hazard a guess it a small to medium size songbird or perhaps a starling size bird. Because the RV-4 canopy flows back so much at the front I'm thinking the impact was of a glancing blow sort even if, based on the goo left behind, I"d say the impact was about 2-3" above the bottom of the glass.

So not a scientific test by any means but at least in this case the canopy survived. I often wonder what would have happened had it been a larger bird and had somehow incapacitated me at low altitude. Not a comforting thought. I had no warning and zero reaction time. One minute droning along and then....

Richard Bibb
RV-4 N144KT

[Bob Redman]

To add to Pierre's comment, consider a controllability check (shamelessly borrowed from military manuals):

Collision & Structural Damage:

Maintain flight within limitations for aircraft configuration (flap, gear etc) - do not change configuration, conduct controllability check.

Controllability Check:

Attain a minimum of 3000ft AGL.

Determine minimum control speed, ie, reduce speed slowly until first detection of:

Control Impairment; or

Airframe buffet; or

Half control deflection needed for straight & level flight.

Recover to nearest suitable airfield maintaining a minimum of 10KIAS above minimum control speed, and use 10KIAS above minimum control speed as the landing threshold speed.

Regards

[YellowPeril]

FWIW

I don't wear a helmet, but I -always- wear ANSI Z-87 safety glasses...they come in clear and tinted, and they're cheap...

[roadrunner20]

Originally Posted by Av8torTom

Wow that's amazing... how did the plane fly after that damage?
Just goes to show how little Bernoulli's principle contributes to lift...

He said it handled a bit mushy at low speeds which is to be considered. He tested some slow flight at higher agl prior to committing to landing. He did land hot.

The forward skin was removed today and the wing looks salvagable with only the need to replace the skin, ribs and addition of some new spar stiffeners to the area. The spar was lightly stressed just outboard of the original stiffener. I'll update the thread as conditions move forward.


BTW, sorry about the image size. I'll have to take a look at the image tutorial prior to uploading.

[jrs14855]

On Nov 23, 1962 a United Airlines Vickers Vicount was struck in the horizontal tail by a flock of whistling swans. The entire tail separated from the aircraft and the aircraft crashed.
The Lear 23 does not have a bird proof windshield. Most small jets have bird proof windshields. On July 4, 1981 a Loon came thru the windshield of a Lear 23 and killed the pilot. I had always heard that the captain was killed. The article that I found says that the copilot was killed. The aircraft was landed safely.
I have seen pictures of a Convair 580 where a bird came thru the pilots windshield with such force that it struck and badly damaged the electrical panel behind the pilot. I have never been able to find additional details about this accident.
There are literally dozens of accidents worldwide reulting from birdstrikes, many of them fatal.
Several of the fatal accidents were the result of failure to properly fly the airplane after engine failures caused by bird injestion.

[Silent_Flyer]

Thanks for the photos on canopy encounters and it confirmed my expectation on strength or lack there of in the speedy RV. I've flown with a ton of turkey vultures, red tail hawks and bald eagles in my sailplane, just make a note that the defensive maneuver for the vultures is to fold up there wings with the obvious flight dynamics outcome. So avoid flying under them as they are easily spooked and fold up their wings, so if you are lucky enough to see them pull to go over vice under them. Red tails and eagles rarely are spooked and they will thermal with you sometimes flying just above you. Regardless, if you have the chance go over no under. Where are they likely found? Upwind side of cumulus clouds and under, so if you fly above the convective clouds which is my preference in the RV for a smooth ride then no worries. Below, avoid flying under the cu's and you will lower your probability of an encounter.

[plehrke]

Originally Posted by DanLandry

Fortunately, He was able to fly it back the 40 miles to his home base in Brooksville, FL (KBKV) after the tower confirmed he still had his gear intact. This is an amazing feat considering the damage incurred. It just goes to show how incredibly strong these aircraft are engineered.

Does no one else see anything wrong with this? Looking out at the wing and having the tower confirm gear are still there, then fly 40 miles to home base? Could they tell there was no spar damage from inside the plane and from a tower flyby? He sounds like he was luck twice.
If I had a bird strike with any damage, I would land at nearest airport and inspect.

[roadrunner20]

Originally Posted by plehrke

Does no one else see anything wrong with this? Looking out at the wing and having the tower confirm gear are still there, then fly 40 miles to home base? Could they tell there was no spar damage from inside the plane and from a tower flyby? He sounds like he was luck twice.
If I had a bird strike with any damage, I would land at nearest airport and inspect.

He flew 40 miles TO his home base for the tower flyby.
This was his only towered option other than take the chance the gear was not compromised. Since he deemed the aircraft was controllable, he elected to fly home versus an off field landing.

[pierre smith]

Originally Posted by MC2

. That's something Pierre taught me and that I have never forgotten... That old Buzzard knows a thing or two.

Now see here, you whipper-snapper you

I still climb that way in my -10.

Thanks,