Van's Air Force
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Preventing bird strikes
- Thread starter ksauce
- Start date
N941WR
Legacy Member
Let me know how that works for you. When I hit my bird, it happened so fast, there was no time to react. It was like, "Bir" BAM! I'm not sure I even got the "r" out before the impact. Lucky for me it was small and only scratched the paint a little.
I did this with mine for the same reason (white and dark blue) and I'm not sure it made any difference.i am ready to paint my spinner 2/3 black. bird strikes seem to be a major concern. if i don't notice any different reactions from the birds so be it. most of the birds in the 'danger zone' don't seem to react much. time will tell.
rjcthree
Well Known Member
Speed and intent
I'm starting to consider the idea proposed by a local raptor expert that I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the hawk I hit was diving on prey. What do I do? Landing light and taxi light on at the time, broad daylight.
Locally, we have a lot of flocking seagulls, and when they cross your path, what do you do?
I'm starting to consider the idea proposed by a local raptor expert that I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the hawk I hit was diving on prey. What do I do? Landing light and taxi light on at the time, broad daylight.
Locally, we have a lot of flocking seagulls, and when they cross your path, what do you do?
NickAir
Well Known Member
Wayne Gillispie
Well Known Member
Slow Down
We don't have to fly at RV cruise speeds all the time. I start pulling the power back in increments 20 nm/7 min out depending on height above field elevation. Your engine, other planes and birds will appreciate it. I hit birds in my white truck with lights on and 4wd tire noise going 65-75 mph, mostly in the spring. At this time the birds are usually distracted admiring their new girl/boyfriend. They are not good multitaskers. Kind of like us and our glass panels. Looking at the bird encounters, most hit above 140 kts. I am usually doing no more than 120 kts below 3000 agl and 90 kts by reaching the pattern. Yes, I know all of the airport guys won't be impressed by my slow pattern entry, but maybe I will just get a leading edge dent versus 1/4" plexiglass in my families faces. I met big birds on three different occasions while below 2000' agl in Florida six weeks ago. In all cases I was below 125 kts(maneuvering speed for me) and we saw them 2-5 sec before possible impact. They did very little maneuvering. I usually climbed because it lessens my speed and windshield impact angle. Small birds flying solo on the other hand...if you see them, you have better eyes than me or my wife. Small quail can penetrate RV windshields too as we have seen on here.
We don't have to fly at RV cruise speeds all the time. I start pulling the power back in increments 20 nm/7 min out depending on height above field elevation. Your engine, other planes and birds will appreciate it. I hit birds in my white truck with lights on and 4wd tire noise going 65-75 mph, mostly in the spring. At this time the birds are usually distracted admiring their new girl/boyfriend. They are not good multitaskers. Kind of like us and our glass panels. Looking at the bird encounters, most hit above 140 kts. I am usually doing no more than 120 kts below 3000 agl and 90 kts by reaching the pattern. Yes, I know all of the airport guys won't be impressed by my slow pattern entry, but maybe I will just get a leading edge dent versus 1/4" plexiglass in my families faces. I met big birds on three different occasions while below 2000' agl in Florida six weeks ago. In all cases I was below 125 kts(maneuvering speed for me) and we saw them 2-5 sec before possible impact. They did very little maneuvering. I usually climbed because it lessens my speed and windshield impact angle. Small birds flying solo on the other hand...if you see them, you have better eyes than me or my wife. Small quail can penetrate RV windshields too as we have seen on here.
Walt
Well Known Member
Good point Wayne, in preperation for Osh I've been cruising around lately at 80-90 knots, it good practice, saves fuel, and gives you more time to see and avoid birds and other aircraft.
Above 3000'
I prefer to fly at or above 3000' when flying during the bird-season.
When I fly aerobatics, I set the floor to 5000'.
As other have said, I prefer to slow down when below 3000': my target speed for those altitudes is 100 KIAS.
And as the others: I prefer to pull up to avoid a bird-collision.
I prefer to fly at or above 3000' when flying during the bird-season.
When I fly aerobatics, I set the floor to 5000'.
As other have said, I prefer to slow down when below 3000': my target speed for those altitudes is 100 KIAS.
And as the others: I prefer to pull up to avoid a bird-collision.
the_other_dougreeves
Well Known Member
Birds are good at thermaling - I wish I were half as good as they are! It's not unusual to see prey birds at and above 5,000 AGL here in Texas in the summer, and little birds will also get above 3,000 sometimes.
TODR
chrispratt
Well Known Member
the_other_dougreeves
Well Known Member
True; I was more thinking of lone birds. Geese tend to stick together and are easier to spot. On the downside, there are more targets
TODR
Wayne Gillispie
Well Known Member
Per FAA Wildlife Strikes to Civil Aircraft Report: 92% of bird strikes occur below 3000 agl and 64% during landing(my opinion- due to higher speed and less noise). Off to Osh now to make noise and do some bird watching.
the_other_dougreeves
Well Known Member
Exactly. Plenty of birds out there at low/medium piston cruise altitudes, whether you expect them or not (much like the Spanish Inquisition
).I spent a good bit of time in the military on the bird strike issue. They have over the years tried lots of mitigation methods. I remember when the word came down to always have landing lights on in the pattern during the day as the birds would avoid the lights. The next day per the instruction one of our first flights airborne had his landing light on. A bird hit the landing light dead center knocking it off the nose and into the right intake taking out the engine. In the end it seemed that none of the different things tried had any real effect on bird strikes with one exception which has been discussed. The slower the speed the fewer bird strikes. If your seeing a lot of birds at your altitude then slow down. It gives both the bird and you time to see and avoid.
George
George
Flying Scotsman
Well Known Member
Check out this new study
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2012.02165.x/full
I found it the following statement interesting:
"findings from the vision model developed herein for the Canada goose (Appendix S2) indicate that to further enhance visibility of aircraft to Canada geese, lighting should peak in the ultraviolet/violet range (380?400 nm; Appendix S4)."
Perhaps there's something to be gained there...if lights could be found/used that had different chromatic characteristics which might be more easily seen by our avian friends...
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2012.02165.x/full
I found it the following statement interesting:
"findings from the vision model developed herein for the Canada goose (Appendix S2) indicate that to further enhance visibility of aircraft to Canada geese, lighting should peak in the ultraviolet/violet range (380?400 nm; Appendix S4)."
Perhaps there's something to be gained there...if lights could be found/used that had different chromatic characteristics which might be more easily seen by our avian friends...
Lycosaurus
Well Known Member
wig wag HID lights
Thanks for the link. Interesting read. After scanning the study, it would seem that we can conclude that wig wag HID lights might be a nice solution. I presently fly with Halogen wig wag lighting all the time. Might consider upgrading to HID at some point.
Thanks for the link. Interesting read. After scanning the study, it would seem that we can conclude that wig wag HID lights might be a nice solution. I presently fly with Halogen wig wag lighting all the time. Might consider upgrading to HID at some point.
Specifically, a 2-Hz alternating pulse of lights enhanced visibility of an aircraft from the perspective of the Canada goose visual system. Spectral properties of the LEDs that composed the lights for this study can be achieved using available lighting technology for commercial aircraft (e.g. high-intensity discharge lighting),
