I hit a bald eagle just after taking off last summer. A bunch of turkey vultures and bald eagles were feeding on a dead fish at the shore and I must of scared them up as I was taking off. I zigzagged as best I could, but the eagle hit my wing. This happened right in front of a fishing lodge a some people who were watching me take off saw it happen and took a boat out to collect the bird. That bird cost me about $10K and I didn't even get to keep it.

Unfortunate eagle


Dent in wing

Only ever had one actual strike, and I didn't even feel it. Just found a bit of gore and a few small feathers on the leading edge of the 150 once when tying it down. Probably a sparrow of some kind.

Had a near miss with a Bald Eagle once coming out of Wasilla.

And while getting my private pilot in a Citabria I had a Kestrel swoop down and grab something off the gravel runway right in front of me on take off (probably a grasshopper, they love those things). I swear he went between wing and strut.

What amazes me is how many times I've gone past Ravens at 3,000, 5000 and even 8,000 ft. Of course in the Challenger, I'm pretty sure most large birds can out run me.

Phil

DonC wrote:Have hit and had my pilots hit lots of ducks in the takeoff canal during take off on Lake Hood in ANC Usually hit the prop with no problems besides cleaning blood and guts off the plane on return. have dented wing a few times and filed suit against the airport and they settled and repaired no questions asked

Don,

Have you been there since they put the pigs on Gull Island? A LOT less waterfowl in LHD these days. Those pigs were a hoot....One evening coming into the Lake, I overheard this radio exchange: 206 pilot to Hood Tower: "Hood Tower, be advised there's a pig in the channel". Hood Tower: "Roger that, can you describe the pig?" Unknown female pilot's voice: "Looks just like my ex husband"......

The first year, they were Larry, Curly and Moe....Airport Security spent a lot of time rounding them up out of the lake....when they got a little warm, they'd crawl the electric fence and go for a swim in the channel.

Guess I was lucky....I've landed seaplanes right in the middle of literally hundreds of ducks hundreds of times and never hit one....now gulls are dumber than a sack of hammers and turkey vultures just don't seem to give a rip....

MTV

Sandhill cranes and geese have a tendency to tuck and dive when startled. Having observed this through a few near-misses, I resolved not to fly under big birds. Departing Beluga in a loaded Navajo, I retracted the gear once runway ahead was too short to abort. Rising to the tops of the 30' spruce trees bordering the runway, my windshield filled up with a formation of big birds crossing left to right just above the trees, maneuvering to land in a swamp. With no other options, I leveled off below the trees, and passed under them. I guess their proximity to the ground prevented them from diving.

Has anyone ever seen smaller birds tuck and dive? I have not.

I suspect an eagle would stare you down all the way to a collision. I always chicken out first, though.

I've had many hawks and a few eagles do the tuck and dive. Ravens also seem to prefer that method when I startle them in flight.

I almost hit a flock of geese at Tieton State this morning. A goose can fly faster than my 172 I discovered. Not a good feeling having a flock of 30 filling your windscreen on short final.

I've had 4 bird strikes in 3 years of flying pipelines. The first buzzard strike was pretty severe, it took full left aileron, full left rudder, and full power. It crushed the leading edge back to the spar and almost got the bell crank. I've hit several birds that were sucked up into the cowling and the smell it creates is horrible.

Nasty. Is that a buzzard vs 150?

Over Yellowstone in '88, the year of the big fire, and at 12,500 to be above the TFR, Dan Denny and I were flying our Kitfoxes on the way to Oshkosh. Looking down it was interesting watching all the air action, and then something caught my eye at my level, startled the hell out of me as I was focused below What I first took to be a flight of 4 military aircraft in tight formation, turned out to be, once my eyeballs got calibrated, 4 pelicans soaring their asses off. It was 2:30 in the afternoon. No collision threat but I have never seen them that high before or since!

elgoatropo wrote:Nasty. Is that a buzzard vs 150?

Buzzard vs Cardinal HaHa. Apparently the Buzzard won. He was like a huge speed brake in the right wing.