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Near miss- Bird Strike

Pmerems

Pmerems

Well Known Member
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This is my first video post and my first near miss with a hawk on takeoff.

I was not very fast and rather low when I had to quickly maneuver. Thankfully the RV's are very controllable when you need them to be.

The video was captured in 1080p.

https://youtu.be/3Q6urgoVe5w
 
bird strike

I fly at 300' 7 hours a day. They occur every 10 minutes. I never move the stick. It's amazing how agile they are. They love to wait until the last second and then tuck. The hawks are very curious. The only time I have had to move was for a eagle spread out. He never moved and looked at me completely annoyed that I was in his space. Wonderful.
Don
 
same experience with a bald eagle. they don't move. I came back around to verify. still held his/her airspace beautifully.
 
white-tailed hawk?

So, was that a white-tailed hawk? Did he have a bald head? Couldn't tell...but he didn't work too hard to evade.

A year ago, 3000 feet at cruise, saw a hawk 500 feet higher and off to right, as we safely passed, the hawk set up a dive, nearly matching our speed and flew in formation for a few seconds. He eventually ran out of energy and we pulled away.
 
RKellogg said:
A year ago, 3000 feet at cruise, saw a hawk 500 feet higher and off to right, as we safely passed, the hawk set up a dive, nearly matching our speed and flew in formation for a few seconds. He eventually ran out of energy and we pulled away.
Click to expand...

And he was probably left wondering how the heck you did that.
 
Near miss - Bird Strike

Last fall we were southbound near Mt. Shasta at 11,500 and am now realizing how close we came to a nasty bird strike. I had recently installed the Aerosun LED landing lights in both leading edges. I glimpsed about a dozen birds below me in all sorts of haphazard orientations with their wings partially folded. Interesting, I thought. Then, within seconds, I passed a nice formation of geese at exactly my altitude far enough off the wingtip to watch them for a couple seconds but close enough to realize how big those things really are. My assumption now, is that the first squadron of geese saw me long before I saw them and all decided to dive below me. Kind of gives me the cold sweats now that I think of it. I now leave those bright LED lights on Wig-Wag during all phases of flight. I also have a pair of goggles I'm going to keep in easy reach.
 
donoltman said:
I fly at 300' 7 hours a day. They occur every 10 minutes. I never move the stick. It's amazing how agile they are. They love to wait until the last second and then tuck. The hawks are very curious. The only time I have had to move was for a eagle spread out. He never moved and looked at me completely annoyed that I was in his space. Wonderful.
Don
Click to expand...

Steve Melton said:
same experience with a bald eagle. they don't move. I came back around to verify. still held his/her airspace beautifully.
Click to expand...
This past fall we had an experience with a Bald Eagle. We were climbing out through 2500' out of Rosecrans Airport (KSTJ) on the Missouri river. Just as I was going through 2500', without warning, there was a very large Bald Eagle about my 11 o'clock and I was climbing into it fast. There was no time at all to react as I passed by the bird. It was very close. I estimated maybe 25-30 feet at the most as I flew by him. There was no action I was able to take as everything happened in milliseconds. All I can say was we were very lucky. I just cannot imagine a 6' wingspan sized bird impacting the windscreen. The positive to the event was for that second I was as close as I have ever been to a beautiful bird like that. I just wish it were in different circumstances so I could have enjoyed the beauty of it.
 
Goose through a windshield

I know a pilot who survived a goose through the windshield of a 150. Frankly, I'm surprised we don't have more "near-misses" south of Pryor Regional Airport, Decatur, Alabama as the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge sits about 5 miles south of the airport. Lots of geese, pelicans, and other migratory birds can be seen at different times over the Refuge.

My friend was a retired Air Force pilot who had rented a 150 to take another retired Air Force friend for an aerial tour of the area. As he told me, the sudden blast of air with blood and feathers was almost heart-stopping. Then the tremendous drag on the airplane required a nose-down pitch change to maintain control. Fortunately he was headed straight for the airport when it happened, so he didn't have to make any turns.
 
Drag high wing no windshield

I remember reading about a high wing Cessna that lost a windshield for whatever reason... too draggy to hold altitude... unlatch the doors before landing per off-field checklist so they won't jam, then it climbs.
 
johnbright said:
I remember reading about a high wing Cessna that lost a windshield for whatever reason... too draggy to hold altitude... unlatch the doors before landing per off-field checklist so they won't jam, then it climbs.
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I'd believe that!

There was a V8 Supercar race at Bathurst a few years ago when a wheel came adrift and smashed the windscreen of Craig Lowndes, who pitted and had his crew promptly kick out the front and rear windscreen before sending him back out - where he finished 14th.
 
Jimboscr said:
You might be interested in this link. It has a pic of what happens when you hit a Wedge Tailed Eagle (about the same size as a Bald Eagle)

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/atsb-fina...ts-midair-bird-collision-20160810-gqp4ai.html

It is also in the Blog made by 2 RV adventurers with further pics.

http://australianadventure.net/blog/2017/03/12/episode-9-mayday-mayday-bird-strike/

Go to the 11:45 mark and you will see some stills from the incident.

Jim
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I thought of when watching the Paul's video. Paul nice job missing that big boy, it would have done some damage for sure.
 
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