Jerry Cochran

Jerry Cochran

Well Known Member
We were cruising along yesterday at 10.5K on a severe clear flight from Santa Rosa to Newberg, OR, and right over Weed, CA a rather large bug, maybe a bumblebee, went splat on the windscreen.

Begs the questions... What was he doing up there and has anyone hit one higher? Inquiring minds, ya know...

The gods were messing with us on this trip, 20 mph headwinds both ways..Only averaged about 160...21+mpg tho... thanks to LOP


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Scared the Bejeezus out of me

I hit what appeared to be a locust (huge grasshopper) between 12 and 13000 feet descending into Austin years ago. ATC had called out pop up traffic at 12 oclock and less that a mile, no altitude so I had my nose up against the winscreen of the 340 looking for it. Just before it hit, I focused on it and it SPLATTED right in front of my face. I thought I was dead..
funny now..
 
Ask your local glider pilot...

Jerry Cochran said:
We were cruising along yesterday at 10.5K on a severe clear flight from Santa Rosa to Newberg, OR, and right over Weed, CA a rather large bug, maybe a bumblebee, went splat on the windscreen.

Begs the questions... What was he doing up there and has anyone hit one higher? Inquiring minds, ya know...

The gods were messing with us on this trip, 20 mph headwinds both ways..Only averaged about 160...21+mpg tho... thanks to LOP


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Click to expand...

Since you were only about 7.5K AGL, the answer is probably thermals.

Glider pilots head for circling birds to find lift. The birds are usually not out have fun and practising formation flying, they are most likely circling and eating bugs that have been picked up off the ground by thermals...:)

IIRC, Weed is an area of green farm fields near the highway - irrigated fields attract flies/bugs like...(you fill in the blank)

I do enjoy flying past Mt Shasta - but some strange local stuff http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/fol/lem/selvius.htm or perhaps the pot they grow there is too strong...:rolleyes:

In the desert areas of the SW, bugs at 18K are possible...
 
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Got mine at 13,500'

Jerry -

I hit mine at the same location while coming back from Sisters, OR to Livermore, CA on 10/5/10. Just west of Mt. Shasta, 13,500' big yellow splat on the plexiglass. It surprised me almost as much, I'm sure, as it surprised him.
 
Glad you brought this up ...

I flew my wife down to Missouri last Friday and was surprised to see a sizeable SPLAT on the windshield at 8500 feet. I was pretty sure that I'd just interfered with an ICAO time-to-climb record attempt, Bug Division. :D
 
I recall that there was another similar thread a year or so ago, with similar altitudes. Maybe that's where the "bug stream" is (corollary of the jet stream) and this is migration season? :D

greg
 
I hit a big yellow one once at 9500MSL over eastern Alabama -- it left a big spot about 1.5 inches in diameter -- the splatter was loud enough for me to hear it. I asked an entomologist friend of mine and she explained that there are some migratory insects that actually 'cruise' that high.
 
In my previous life as a glider pilot, I was running between thermals around 10K MSL north of Las Vegas, when I spotted what looked like a fuzzy ball ahead. As I passed it, it turned out to be a swarm of bees. They were clumped together in a ball about the size of a basket ball, with some flying around the edges making it look "fuzzy". I was really glad I didn't hit the ball head on. I don't remember where the air vent intake was on that glider, but I probably would have ended up with a lot of angry bees in a rather restricted area.
 
Slightly related - we get bat strikes at night down route.

Climbing out in a Airbus 330 we get the odd 'thunk' at night.

No feathers so they must be mammals
 
Siskiyou county bugs

Our bugs were just heading south for the winter:D
Stay away from MT shasta when it has a cap on it as it will rock your ship.
 
its always nice to have a camera aboard. pooped on at 3,000 ft,
img0596ki.jpg
 
Haven't hit a bug at altitude, but did the opposite once while flying a cessna. Cabin was getting warm so I opened an air vent. A bee must have been stuck in there by positive air pressure since takeoff and it came in through the vent, bounced off the wind screen and landed in my lap.

I did the only sensible thing I could think of; opened a window and let the bee out @ 5-6 thousand feet.

Now I check the air vents during my preflight and/or my run-up.
 
Poor bugs

I feel bad for the bugs that hit the windshield. They just dodged their way through the gauntlet of the propeller, peed themselves, got all hyped up on adrenaline, then splat. Life is rough. Off to the airport to clean the canopy again!!!
 
Yup, its thermals

And of all the sites where I race gliders, the Shasta valley has the worst bugs. Combination of agriculture, standing water, and good strong thermal conditions.

Its amazing how good your eye is at picking up a big bug about 15-20 ft out in front of you, approaching at 150+ ft/sec. Just enough time to send the reflex to snap your neck back and close your eyes and be convinced that you are going to get clobbered.

What worries me sometimes is that an F-16 closing at 800 ft/sec might look just about the same:eek:
 
Nope, not thermals

Siskiyou county is known for it's thermals but not the day I got my bug. There were 30 to 40 knot winds from the northeast, all kinds of stuff boiling on the slopes on the east side of of Mt. Shasta and a lenticular over the top. I was at 13,500' headed for 15,500' and thinking about 17,500' hoping not to get my @ss dumped by the rotor I was expecting on the leeward side. Luckily nothing hit me but the bug. Before you say I should have been on the other side of the mountain, you needed to have been there to see what it looked like over there.

Now, back to the bug splatting.
 
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Then it was...

Mike Macon said:
Siskiyou county is known for it's thermals but not the day I got my bug. There were 30 to 40 knot winds from the northeast, all kinds of stuff boiling on the slopes on the east side of of Mt. Shasta and a lenticular over the top. I was at 13,500' headed for 15,500' and thinking about 17,500' hoping not to get my @ss dumped by the rotor I was expecting on the leeward side. Luckily nothing hit me but the bug. Before you say I should have been on the other side of the mountain, you needed to have been there to see what it looked like over there.

Now, back to the bug splatting.
Click to expand...

...simply wave lift that elevated the bugs to your altitude....:)

The standing waves often go down to ground level where they could pickup bugs.

Your description is a classic to glider pilots...
 
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