Night time bird strikes....
Landing gear down, flaps 18 degrees, indicated airspeed 207 mph (180 kts) and holding the 25 Left glideslope coming into Sin City at midnight with 150 happy campers. Without warning, at 3500 feet above the ground, a loud thump on the nose followed by a spray of wet debris across my heated Plexiglas. Uh-oh, I think we just hit one of our feathered brethren. It was not loud enough and lacked impact vibrations to be a waterfowl, unless it was a very small duck. It was larger than a sparrow; maybe a hawk or an owl out foraging for bugs. Amazing that it would be at 3500 feet AGL, though. Regardless, there is a mess on the nose and captain's windshield.
The co-pilot called line maintenance after I cut the fuel to the engines at the gate. Roger, we'll be right out. Our favorite female mechanic arrived a short time later with a pink Mag-Lite hanging from her tool belt. We love this girl... She takes no prisoners when it comes to pilot harassment, and most importantly, never threatens to call the PC Police.
Oh, good job boys! Couldn't you have banked right or left? You don't expect me to clean this mess, do you?
What? You afraid of a few feathers?
Feather this, captain...
That was very rude. You are going to upset the co-pilot. Look how young he is...
The night-shift maintenance super walked into the flight deck; he was talking on his two-way radio to another maintenance tech working two gates away. He asks pink Mag-Lite, How long on this one? I need you over at the hydraulic leak. Then he notices the bloody Plexiglas. Oh great, couldn't you guys have banked a little bit.
He thought for a few seconds, then told pink Mag-Lite, Go to the hydraulic leak. You know more than the guy workin' it now. I'll take care of this mess.
On the way out, she gives me the look... See, I told you.
We have 42 minutes to de-feather Fi-Fi.
Life on the Line continues.
24 comments:
Pah, that's nothing.
Check this out:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23563691-2,00.html
Hopefully you'll never have to experience the fun of hitting a Canada Goose while you're up in my neighborhood, Dave.
One of our JungleJets was departing 23 one night last summer and took a hit to the #1 engine. Bent a few blades on the way through and left quite a dent on the inboard, forward cowling. And the obligatory blood splatter of course.
The a/c returned without incident (though the cabin lights were out & #1 shut down), with a phalanx of emergency vehicles in tow.
First time I'd seen a bird strike happen around here (which, with the creek running along the west side of the field is quite a feat, given the number of waterfowl that have taken up residence there).
What would have happened if it had hit the windscreen?
Deano in BKK deanurr@hotmail.com
Damn birds never ident. This wouldn't if they took a look at the charts.
Birds at 35000 what are they doing up at that height? Is that normal?
Long time reader, first time commenter.
Congratulations on a very well written blog about life as a line pilot. I live vicariously through your posts.
If I remember correctly, you wrote about a similar experience a while back. Though I love the verbal sparring between pilots and mechanics.
You might want to check out these pictures of a much more "spectacular" bird strike incident at: http://www.thedigitalaviator.com/blog/?p=554
Being used to flying props, I didn't know you could feather a jet ;-)
Stu Savory
PS: Local hero flying tale on my blog today :-
http://home.egge.net/~savory//blog_jul_08.htm#20080721
Haven't quite seen any birds up at 3500 before, but up here in the Pacific Northwest, I've several big birds of prey cruising at 2500 with me.
Showoffs. If I were paranoid, I'd swear some of them are laughing at me when I'm practicing stalls.
Take a look at 757 bird strike during takeoff. This is from the FL350 Video site
http://www.flightlevel350.com/Aircraft_Boeing_757-200-Airline_Thomsonfly_Aviation_Video-8457.html
Hehe, what a funny entry, it gave me a nice laugh after a long day in Government :). But, what is PC Police?
T. Rolland
Norway
Okay, NOW you are required to put up a photo of non-PC Pink MagLite Mechanic-babe!
Wow, that takes crew meals to a whole new level, Dave!
Fast food also takes on a new meaning...
...what about TCAS?
rich said...
...what about TCAS?
if you meant why didnt TCAS tell dave to miss it...TCAS works on signals being sent from planes. not working anything like radar or any kind of proximity detecctors that ( not that a radar could detect a single bird anywho
hey dave! LOVE the blog! This comment is completely off topic, though i could share a few tense moments involving a c172 on short final and some friendly north texas hawks, but i digress. I am a private pilot who is considering pursuing full time flying and am looking at ATP flight schools as an option. I was curious if any FOs you've flown with have come through this school, if so what kind of pilots they are, and any thoughts/opinions you may have about the school. Thanks so much!!
Feel free to email me personally. (Drum8411@aol.com)
Yikes! One of our Qantas 747-400 jumbos has lost a huge chunk while flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne!
Again, all credit and thanks to the skills of the pilots for getting everyone down safely!
Hi Dave,
First time poster but regular reader. Thanks for the informative and well written blog.
Poor bird thought it was going to be undisturbed on it's little night flight at 3500 feet. I wonder what was the last thing to pass through its mind?
Deejay, I believe the highest ever recorded bird strike was at 37000 feet. I wonder if the pilot or the bird was more surprised.
Poor bird thought it was going to be undisturbed on it's little night flight at 3500 feet. I wonder what was the last thing to pass through its mind?
That would have been it's rear end, I'm guessing ;)
As in the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy... the poor bird probably thought "Oh..not again"..:)
Dave,
Would love to hear your thoughts on the last post by Aviatrix re. #1 electrical buss failures on A319/A320 aircraft.
I had a fruitbat come right through the windshield of a SE Cessna whilst doing one of my early NVFR solo navs - fortunately nobody sitting in the RH seat to get hit by the debris- scared the bejesus out of me though.
Dave, did you remember to notify catering?
"Captain, are you ready to eat yet? I can recommend the Chicken Splatter..."
[With apologies, Dave.]
I really enjoy this blog. how long have u been and airline pilot for?
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