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Avoid or accept a bird strike?

Ed_Wischmeyer

Well Known Member
So yesterday I'm trucking along on final approach in the RV-9A, 350 ft AGL, 80 knots (fast because I'm cleared for a long landing), when this stupid turkey vulture decides not to abide by the right of way rules. Having practiced vigorous low speed maneuvers in advance, I achieved a 55° bank and 13° nose down, recovering at about 200 ft AGL. Digital data after the fact showed that I had plenty of margin in airspeed, AOA, and g load for a more vigorous recovery to avoid hitting the ground, had that been required. In any case, that bird avoidance commanded my full attention.

In many other airplanes, I most likely would not have attempted this frisky maneuvering. But this raises the question -- when do you accept a bird strike vs when do you maneuver vigorously to avoid it? Seems to me that if the. bird strike is going to be on the wing, you'd accept it and fly on. If the bird strike is on the windshield, you might maneuver more vigorously. And like an engine failure right after takeoff, maybe this is something to be considered in advance.

Once, in a C172, I hit a duck on short final (me, that is, don't know about the duck) on the wing and there was no noticeable effect on handling. A C172RG in that same flying club hit another duck at higher speed and the shredded duck came to rest in the back of the cabin. That plane landed fine, and there are youtube videos of light planes surviving bird strikes to the windshield. But I always wear glasses in the plane for at least minimal eye protection, and my vision is good enough that I can fly just fine without glasses -- except for maybe wind blast.

Put on your CFI hats for a moment -- what would you teach a student pilot to do?
 
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Birds

It has been my experience the birds will almost always dive if they see you...

It is also kind of bird dependent as to what to do; a turkey vulture presents a great deal more risk than a sparrow...
 
Avoid

I'm not sure if it is possible to predict which part of the airplane will be hit, plus it can all happen so quickly.

I was recently at 2,500 ft agl and 140 knots when a wedgetail eagle converged from the 2 o'clock position. They are territorial and fearless. I was taught to avoid by banking and showing the aircraft profile, which is what I did, but I was surprised at how quickly we closed in on each other.

If any part of an RV is struck by something that weighs 5-10 pounds, at that speed, I think it would be serious, though manoeuvering and over-stressing the airframe could also be a risk.

I think the key lesson is to keep a good lookout at all times.
 
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I think I would take the hit. I would rather recover from that than a steep banked dive at 200 feet.For me anyway bird encounters happen so fast I really haven't had time to react. Good flying on your part but there would have been no recovery from a stall.
 
Additional dimension to the problem is airports around here are typically on river flood wet lands. This means flocks of birds from blackbirds to Canadian geese. Very hard to try and plan where to take the strike with a flock of a dozen Canadian geese approach at 160 kts.

It is very hard to resist doing a hard maneuver to avoid a bird strike as the natural reaction is to pull and bank. I would think the best practice near the ground would be to continue with approach to avoid uncontrolled flight into the ground. I always remember what I read a while ago that the animal that kills the most humans in car accident is . . . wait for it . . . deer, Not with hitting the deer, but with avoiding the deer and running off he road.
 
Put on your CFI hats for a moment -- what would you teach a student pilot to do?

Both the bird strikes I've had happened so fast that I had no time to even think about it.

I expect that this isn't a one size fits all approach, but personally I would never teach a student to try to out maneuver a bird. Especially close to the ground.

It seems like the same thing as teaching a kid to drive and telling them that they should try to swerve to avoid hitting a squirrel. The chance of creating a catastrophe are much greater than the chance of avoiding one.
 
I love making agressive manuevers like this. However, not sure that I would do so at 80 kts and 300 AGL. I would likely do a manuever, just not sure how aggressive I would be with it. This is a good thinking exercise to go through though.

Larry
 
It would take two swallows to carry a coconut... It's a simple question of weight ratios...
 
As a CFI and ATP I have received and gave very little instructions on Bird Strike but the obligatory expletive after I hit the bird "Oh ****". It is a good topic. It cost airlines US millions $400M every year ($2.0B World wide) and has caused accidents in all sectors or aviation. I have only hit two birds I know of in a large plane. It caused no damage, but I have seen many airliners with feathers and stuff poking out of leading edges of flight surfaces, fairings and engine inlets.

Two or three points:

1) When birds are startled they will often stop flying in the direction they are going, do a 180 and dive. On takeoff and landing low to the ground there is not a lot of options. The key is be aware.

2) Eye and head protection. When I was a young pilot, renting planes, one of the Pipers in the fleet had a bird strike. The bird went through windscreen. It caused permanent injuries to the pilots vision. Wear eye protection is a good thing.

3) Data bases on bird migrations, strikes are available. If you have a bird encounter report it. Birds can fly above 10,000 Ft MSL but most impacts are at or below 3500 AGL. (US Airways Flight 1549 imact was at 2818' MSL). Bird migratory routes (location/time of year dependent), near marshlands, beaches or anywhere where birds gather increases risks. Most airport operators are aware of risk an take steps to reduce it (one link below is geared to airport operators). If you have airport manager it might be a fun conversation to have. A lot of major airports have issues with birds because they are near water and marshlands. milli

Good Info on Bird Strike Avoidance
https://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/2011_q3/4/
https://www.aopa.org/training-and-s...afety-and-technique/bird-and-wildlife-strikes

FAQ Interesting
https://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_safety/wildlife/faq/

Reporting and Database
https://wildlife.faa.gov/home
https://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_safety/wildlife/

References and Links - Airport Operators
https://www.fws.gov/birds/bird-enthusiasts/threats-to-birds/collisions/aircrafts.php

Advisory Circular - Reporting Wildlife Aircraft Strikes
https://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/advisory_circular/150_5200_32b.pdf
 
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Had a flock of Canada Geese pass in front of me one time, my reaction that time was to climb over them.
I hope my reaction otherwise would be- the bigger the bird, the more aggressive maneuver.
 
A friend of mine lost a wing on his Sidewinder and was killed in a crash. The plane had been flying for decades and my friend was a very conservative pilot. The assumption is that he pulled the wing off trying to avoid a bird strike.

Ever since this accident, I tell myself that I’ll just accept the bird strike rather than trying to out-maneuver the bird. Who knows if I’ll be able to squelch the flinch response in the heat of the moment, but that’s my plan.

I’ve had at least a dozen bird strikes in airliners over the past 20+ years. Only one required an extensive inspection for damage (went through an engine). The rest were tiny tweetie birds that just kinda go nova when they hit. I’m sure even the tiny birds would cause more damage to an RV.
 
Aim forward and above the bird. Even on short final. Be aware of your energy state at all times, don't depart controlled flight.

If it is carrying a coconut, revisit your navigation skills, you are far from home.
 
My $.02

I've avoided a number of bird strikes over the years, some by a comfortable margin, others by not-very-much...

Birds are better aviators than we are, they know their limitations better than we do, and they know how to manage their energy. A bird on the ground will fly up and away from a threat - slowly. A bird in the air will dive away from a threat (usually).

If the bird is big enough to see, I would take evasive action by climbing above it. If I recall correctly, the big RV's are designed to +6G/-3G; a slight pull to +2 to +3G will outclimb anything in front of you and remain well within the design limits of the aircraft, plus give you more altitude, etc.

Be careful out there...
 
Tech Counselor

A friend of mine lost a wing on his Sidewinder and was killed in a crash. The plane had been flying for decades and my friend was a very conservative pilot. The assumption is that he pulled the wing off trying to avoid a bird strike.

Ever since this accident, I tell myself that I?ll just accept the bird strike rather than trying to out-maneuver the bird. Who knows if I?ll be able to squelch the flinch response in the heat of the moment, but that?s my plan.

I?ve had at least a dozen bird strikes in airliners over the past 20+ years. Only one required an extensive inspection for damage (went through an engine). The rest were tiny tweetie birds that just kinda go nova when they hit. I?m sure even the tiny birds would cause more damage to an RV.

Rod
Was your friend a EAA Tech Counselor?
If so, he was my first TC. Very smart man.

I trained and got my PP in Central Texas. I think we saw vultures or hawks every flight. Birds were basically other traffic. We just got used to watching for them.
 
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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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.
 
Buzzard

Danny,

The buzzard/rv8 incident was during that rv8?s initial test flight. Talk about bad luck
 
Bird Strike

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
 
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.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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
 
bird strike

A buddy of mine hit a turkey vulture in his Starduster on take off. Went through his prop, along the top of his fuselage, taking off his fuel cap, damaging the forward cowling, and through his windshield. He was right behind me on takeoff and I heard him on the radio yell bird strike and said he was returning to field. He was lucky, made it down with no problem. Said it all happened so quick, he was just along for the ride.
Allen
 
I had the misfortune of hitting a turkey vulture on short final in my RV9A at Warsaw, MO a couple of summers ago. Low and slow, about 40' AGL with no other options or energy than to take what was coming my way. Flock of 4 turkey vultures, left to right, straight across my path.

Thankfully they were fast, and only one glanced off the under-side of the leading edge of my right wing, about 3/4 of the way out to the tip. Landed uneventfully, got out to assess damage expecting to find airplane and bird carnage, and was surprised at how hard I had to look to find a small streak of blood and a small dent in the leading edge.

This is a good thought exercise. It was obvious at the time I had no other options. Had we been higher and faster, how would I respond?
 
Unless you spot the bird a fair way off I wouldn't try to out manoeuvre it, birds are unpredictable. I've hit plenty of our feathered friends over the years from light GA machines to heavy metal (cooked birds stink when they go thru the hot section!). Give way to birds whenever posdbke, remember we don't belong up there, they do-:)
 
Unless you spot the bird a fair way off I wouldn't try to out manoeuvre it, birds are unpredictable. I've hit plenty of our feathered friends over the years from light GA machines to heavy metal (cooked birds stink when they go thru the hot section!). Give way to birds whenever posdbke, remember we don't belong up there, they do-:)

Had no place to go:

In 1989 I was a flight engineer on a B-747 weighing 800,000 lbs for takeoff out of Chicago. Nearing V1 we took a multiple bird strike in engines 1 & 2. The high speed abort process started with the engines throwing flames and compressor stalling. The moments before throttle retardation from full takeoff thrust, the compressor stalls created a momentary asymmetric thrust condition that yawed the aircraft off runway centerline. The runway condition was wet during a light January snowfall. Engines 1 & 2 thrust reversers failed to deploy and the auto-speedbrakes (RTO) failed to actuate. The captain had his hands full maintaining directional control. I reached forward and manually deployed the speedbrakes. We came to a stop with about 200 feet of runway remaining with later to discover seven blown tires. The abort made the CNN news and the FAA was in our cockpit minutes after we were towed off the runway grabbing the aircraft logbook, takeoff performance calculations, and checking our licenses.

If this birdstrike happened at 50 feet AGL, I would not be here writing this story.

Re: OP Topic:

In my 85 hp aircraft below 1000' AGL, I would consider a slight jink to avoid a cockpit strike, otherwise take the hit. My concern with a more radical avoidance maneuver would be the possibility of inducing an accelerated stall.
 
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A friend of mine lost a wing on his Sidewinder and was killed in a crash. The plane had been flying for decades and my friend was a very conservative pilot. The assumption is that he pulled the wing off trying to avoid a bird strike.
Was it this one?

Location: Boulder, CO
Accident Number: CEN14FA072
Date & Time: 11/27/2013, 1150 CDT
Registration: N3786A
Aircraft: BIESEMEIER DAVID I SMYTH SIDEWINDER
Aircraft Damage: Destroyed
Defining Event: Part(s) separation from AC
Injuries: 1 Fatal

Cause was overload of wing and report mentions flocks of birds in area but no sign or bird strike. Sorry to hear about your friend. I read this report years ago and was saddened. I always liked the Smyth Sidewinder.

OP's question should you hit the bird or pull the wings off? It is like driving a car on a narrow country road with on coming traffic when wild life jumps in front of you, do you swerve off the road or into on coming traffic? Or just brake and take the hit.
 
Maneuver

I would maneuver within limits. I usually choose to go up as the bird most likely will dive down. Going up tends to limit the aircraft strike zone and I would prefer anything but for the canopy to be hit.

Story: Years ago I was climbing out of San Luis Obispo with a student in the venerable C152. We approached "six" on a small hawk. He looked right and I imagine he saw us with his right eye, then he jigged left and saw us with his left eye. He reversed again but this time split right and slightly down (I am betting a 4G turn). As he did so he crapped and the effluent went left. We split the difference.

Scared the **** outta him I suppose.
 
Had no place to go:

In 1989 I was a flight engineer on a B-747 weighing 800,000 lbs for takeoff out of Chicago. Nearing V1 we took a multiple bird strike in engines 1 & 2. The high speed abort process started with the engines throwing flames and compressor stalling. The moments before throttle retardation from full takeoff thrust, the compressor stalls created a momentary asymmetric thrust condition that yawed the aircraft off runway centerline. The runway condition was wet during a light January snowfall. Engines 1 & 2 thrust reversers failed to deploy and the auto-speedbrakes (RTO) failed to actuate. The captain had his hands full maintaining directional control. I reached forward and manually deployed the speedbrakes. We came to a stop with about 200 feet of runway remaining with later to discover seven blown tires. The abort made the CNN news and the FAA was in our cockpit minutes after we were towed off the runway grabbing the aircraft logbook, takeoff performance calculations, and checking our licenses.

If this birdstrike happened at 50 feet AGL, I would not be here writing this story.

Re: OP Topic:

In my 85 hp aircraft below 1000' AGL, I would consider a slight jink to avoid a cockpit strike, otherwise take the hit. My concern with a more radical avoidance maneuver would be the possibility of inducing an accelerated stall.

Yr skipper did a good job on that RTO!:)
The only RTO I've ever done (apart from the Sim) was when a Plover bird decided to take on the L36 I was driving at the time, head to head, luckily only around 110 kts with a huge Rwy ahead of me, whacked the windscreen LH side, scared the **** out of us!
 
To the O.P. - you took an evasive maneuver that resulted in recovery and a normal landing. Nobody hurt, no damage. By definition this was successful and you did exactly the right thing. Will it work every time? Not necessarily, but we need to make decisions when confronted with a challenge, based on existing conditions, and scenario, and you my friend, made the right decision in this case. Way to go!!
 
Dont forget power

There are some comments about maneuver or lack of abililty to maneuver at approach speed.

Don't forget to add power, these airplanes accelerate very well. I would not make a big bank change without a fist full of power. Almost any maneuver is going to be okay as long as you add lots of power.

On a go around my plane accelerates fast enough that I can retract the flaps all the way with no loss of altitude, at lease solo.

Just food for thought.

Cheers
 
Yes. That?s the one.

Correct. There?s nothing to indicate he hit a bird. The best guess is that he pulled a wing off trying to avoid a bird.

I have pictures of the scene and worked with the NTSB and the company who recovered the airplane. The determination was that it wasn?t an ongoing deterioration of the spar, but rather a one time catastrophe overload force.

Dave wasn?t the type to just randomly yank and bank. His flying style matched his personality... conservative and methodical. I have video of him blowing my doors off passing me when I was in my Midget Mustang, but even this relatively benign maneuver had been planned for and briefed ahead of time.

He was a good guy. I think he?d be right in the thick of this thought exercise we?re having re: avoidance vs. taking a hit.

In my mind, the issue is squelching the ?oh crap? instinctive response and making a reasoned decision in the heat of the moment. We?re trained to do this in our initial training when we practice stall recoveries. As with most things, my guess is that the ability to apply reason is closely correlated to the size/deadliness of the perceived threat.

Rod

Was it this one?

Location: Boulder, CO
Accident Number: CEN14FA072
Date & Time: 11/27/2013, 1150 CDT
Registration: N3786A
Aircraft: BIESEMEIER DAVID I SMYTH SIDEWINDER
Aircraft Damage: Destroyed
Defining Event: Part(s) separation from AC
Injuries: 1 Fatal

Cause was overload of wing and report mentions flocks of birds in area but no sign or bird strike. Sorry to hear about your friend. I read this report years ago and was saddened. I always liked the Smyth Sidewinder.

OP's question should you hit the bird or pull the wings off? It is like driving a car on a narrow country road with on coming traffic when wild life jumps in front of you, do you swerve off the road or into on coming traffic? Or just brake and take the hit.
 
In my mind, the issue is squelching the ?oh crap? instinctive response and making a reasoned decision in the heat of the moment. We?re trained to do this in our initial training when we practice stall recoveries. As with most things, my guess is that the ability to apply reason is closely correlated to the size/deadliness of the perceived threat.

And there-in lies the threat. ? closely correlated to the size/deadliness of the perceived threat?. If you are not comfortable with or trained in unusual maneuvering at this end of the envelope, then your response to it should be different than what happened here. Keep in mind, Ed (the OP) is very comfortable with maneuvering in this end of the envelope, and remember, he is still within the envelope (you know, the one that was created during phase I). If you are not comfortable with it, and you would like to be, go out and have some fun with your airplane - at a safe altitude. Try those Dutch rolls with 45* of bank, and keep that nose in the same spot always. And do this at 1.3VS. Worst thing that happens is you stall. In fact try doing the stalls in a bank in the landing configuration, and recover from the stall while still in the bank. If you are not comfortable with this, and I certainly wouldn?t be if I hadn?t been trained for this previously, get an instructor or experienced RV pilot to show you this type of training. None of this is outside of the normal operating envelope of an RV, or aerobatic.
I?m betting the poster (Ed) realized that if he attempted a go around, he would have hit the bird, with unknown, but probably not good circumstances. And he realized that maneuvering margins for avoidance were within the capabilities of his airplane and he had the experience and confidence to fly the airplane through this maneuver.
I think there might be some RV pilots that don?t appreciate/exploit the capabilities of these great airplanes at the lower end of their speed envelope. I?m not requesting people to go out and have a stall/spin accident on base leg... I?m hoping they get comfortable enough with the capabilities of their airplane to not ever let that happen.
 
A friend of mine lost a wing on his Sidewinder and was killed in a crash. The plane had been flying for decades and my friend was a very conservative pilot. The assumption is that he pulled the wing off trying to avoid a bird strike..
Wow, a Sidewinder is a stout bird. must have been a really hard pull. sorry to hear of that.
 
Little birdies---Big birdies

I've had 3 in airliners, and one I was easily able to go around in my 8. Blasting down the runway in a DC 9,in Pensacola, about 6:30 in the morning. About 300 little fuzzy critters sleeping in the grass on the side of the runway, had decided no self respecting flying thing would be flying at that hour. When they heard that big monster coming at them, they all jumped up to fly away. But no-o-o-o, they couldn't fly away from the runway, they decided right over the runway was better. Thump Thump thump times maybe 50 (or 300 times) Too late to abort. By the time we were at 200 Feet, the whole cabin smelled for fried bird. Got back to Atlanta, no damage that Maintenance could find. Lucky they were so little.

#2, Landing at night---Montreal. On final. 727. BLAM!! Blood and guts all over the Capt's windshield, and streaked up over the fuselage. Capt couldn't see out. I had to land.

#3 Again at night, on final into Newark. 737. Another kerblam. Didn't see or feel anything different in the airplane. When we got out on the ground to have a look, there was a dent in the radome about the size of a beech ball.. Don't these birdies know they're supposed to be sleeping at night??:D

#4 KRHP on the Georgia, North Carolina borderline, in my 8. On final. Then I see what must have been 50 to a 100 birds over the runway. And they weren't small either like in Pensacola. I went to the left-----way-y-y-y to the left. (And I'm not even a democrat)
 
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I've had 3 in airliners, and one I was easily able to go around in my 8. Blasting down the runway in a DC 9,in Pensacola, about 6:30 in the morning. About 300 little fuzzy critters sleeping in the grass on the side of the runway, had decided no self respecting flying thing would be flying at that hour. When they heard that big monster coming at them, they all jumped up to fly away. But no-o-o-o, they couldn't fly away from the runway, they decided right over the runway was better. Thump Thump thump times maybe 50 (or 300 times) Too late to abort. By the time we were at 200 Feet, the whole cabin smelled for fried bird. Got back to Atlanta, no damage that Maintenance could find. Lucky they were so little.

#2, Landing at night---Montreal. On final. 727. BLAM!! Blood and guts all over the Capt's windshield, and streaked up over the fuselage. Capt couldn't see out. I had to land.

#3 Again at night, on final into Newark. 737. Another kerblam. Didn't see or feel anything different in the airplane. When we got out on the ground to have a look, there was a dent in the radome about the size of a beech ball.. Don't these birdies know they're supposed to be sleeping at night??:D

#4 KRHP on the Georgia, North Carolina borderline, in my 8. On final. Then I see what must have been 50 to a 100 birds over the runway. And they weren't small either like in Pensacola. I went to the left-----way-y-y-y to the left. (And I'm not even a democrat)

The cooked bird smell you mention is the most awful stench I have smelt! I/we hit half doz plovers just prior to touch down in the 'bus', by the time we taxied to the gate a good deal of pax where puking!
 
And there-in lies the threat. ? closely correlated to the size/deadliness of the perceived threat?. If you are not comfortable with or trained in unusual maneuvering at this end of the envelope, then your response to it should be different than what happened here. Keep in mind, Ed (the OP) is very comfortable with maneuvering in this end of the envelope, and remember, he is still within the envelope (you know, the one that was created during phase I). If you are not comfortable with it, and you would like to be, go out and have some fun with your airplane - at a safe altitude. Try those Dutch rolls with 45* of bank, and keep that nose in the same spot always. And do this at 1.3VS. Worst thing that happens is you stall. In fact try doing the stalls in a bank in the landing configuration, and recover from the stall while still in the bank. If you are not comfortable with this, and I certainly wouldn?t be if I hadn?t been trained for this previously, get an instructor or experienced RV pilot to show you this type of training. None of this is outside of the normal operating envelope of an RV, or aerobatic.
I?m betting the poster (Ed) realized that if he attempted a go around, he would have hit the bird, with unknown, but probably not good circumstances. And he realized that maneuvering margins for avoidance were within the capabilities of his airplane and he had the experience and confidence to fly the airplane through this maneuver.
I think there might be some RV pilots that don?t appreciate/exploit the capabilities of these great airplanes at the lower end of their speed envelope. I?m not requesting people to go out and have a stall/spin accident on base leg... I?m hoping they get comfortable enough with the capabilities of their airplane to not ever let that happen.

Well said!
 
Great discussion, and good question by the OP.

With a CFI hat on, I'd say that I would discuss the diving tendency that most birds exhibit under threat, and recommend that, if you actually see a bird in your flight path, maneuvering up, versus down, would be best. I'd suggest that harsh maneuvering would not be desired, especially close to the ground. That being said, every situation is different, and shock factor or a flinch response are possible. So, as Scott said, being comfortable maneuvering your plane is an important fundamental skill. Sounds like the OP is, and did good job.

Like many, I have a few close B-1-RD encounters, some quite close to the ground:

* Cessna Citation at Santa Monica, hit about 6-8 pigeon-sized birds in the flare, and during touchdown (most in the gear area...didn't see them till they lifted...they were runway-colored...unfortunate choice of camo on their part). No room to move, and a go-around wouldn't have changed the result. Went out with the airport ops to clean up the carcasses (doubt that would be allowed today).

* 737, crossing the threshold at Sacramento at night. Just as I was reducing power and beginning the flare, an egret (big bird!) appeared about 50' ahead and just to the right of the windscreens. It was pumping for all it had to outclimb us. Again, nowhere to go, and a go-around would have skewered it, or so it felt. It hit just above my left eyebrow window. Post flight showed white smudge above the window, but no blood. Airport found no carcass, so it may be the luckiest...or bounciest...egret ever! But maneuvering in this case was a non-starter, especially with pax...kind of a "good of the many..." scenario.

* In my RV, flying a Sheriff SAR practice route that flew low-level up Pyramid Lake, NV. Saw a field of white specks ahead that quickly became a flock of pelicans! :eek: Started a climb, made a few gentle jinks, and consider myself lucky to have made it through unscathed. Fortunately, this flock was not flying tight formation! But the maneuvering was gentle, yet decisive (I think any way...but mostly lucky). I radioed to the high cover coordination plane to direct those behind me on the route to climb above 3K AGL crossing the lake, where it was clear of "little white specs".

* Finally, the event that Ralphy-boy referred to earlier in this thread. My buddy James was flying our RV at Reno, while I flew the pace above. He hit a falcon at Sport pylon 6. His recount was that he saw it ahead and above, and saw it start to fold its wings. He eased the nose up (makes sense at 50', with a bird about to dive), but the falcon went right through the right windscreen. James and I are both glad the bird wanted to be an FO that day, and not a Captain. In the first pic below, you can see the force of the impact. Right windscreen substantially gone, and the impact to the baggage wall actually bent the upper deck skin above the impact point. James' cool head, and gentle, but decisive maneuvering, both before, and after the impact, brought the plane back to safety. In the second photo, you can see the fun and irreverent sense of humor of Ralph and his compadres up in Calgary...this is what I was treated to when I opened the box of the windscreen Ralph sent to me! :p

In summary, I'd say most bird strikes will occur with little to no warning. If you see it developing, maneuver the aircraft carefully but decisively (recognizing there is a fine line between decisive and panicked) and know your surroundings and proximity to the ground. As others have said, glasses on or helmet visor down is a good strategy. And if it happens...fly the plane first, then assess, and handle the situation. Be Sully!

Cheers,
Bob

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