Things got a little exciting climbing out of Soldotna on the way to Homer.....

http://youtu.be/Q-c0Cy3_2MA

I wouldn't worry about ravens or crows with regard to getting hit by aircraft. They are some of the most savvy birds in the air, and they can FLY. They do love screwing around in the air....watch one dog fighting with an eagle sometime, and you'll realize what REAL air shows are like.

There used to be a large nesting colony of Northwest Crows right on the Kodiak State Airport. They were flying around the airport constantly, till an airplane took off or landed....then it was like someone threw a switch.....they all landed, waited for the plane to clear, then went back to their business.

I suspect that raven had his sights on you long before you saw him, and decided to have a little fun. Later in the day, on raven to another: "You shoulda seen the eyes on that pilot after I buzzed his ass!".

Ducks, you may want to worry about....ravens, not so much. That said, I spent quite a few thousands of hours flying seaplanes in and around some of the best duck nesting habitat on the planet, and nary a close call.

MTV

I saw a goose damn near take down a C210 once. Luckily most of it wedged behind the prop and the pilot made a short pattern to a full recovery. Damaged baffling only though I wonder now if they treated it like a prop strike? That's a big bird but I've seen Ravens just as big on the North Slope.

Mister701 wrote:I saw a goose damn near take down a C210 once. Luckily most of it wedged behind the prop and the pilot made a short pattern to a full recovery. Damaged baffling only though I wonder now if they treated it like a prop strike? That's a big bird but I've seen Ravens just as big on the North Slope.

Ravens and other birds often LOOK much larger than actual in foggy, low overcast conditions. I once saw a Stellar's Sea Eagle on the tundra near Cold Bay, and that thing looked like could stand flat footed and shit in a dump truck. Turns out they're big alright, but not that big.

You find a raven ANYwhere near the size of ANY goose, you'd best get ahold of either the AOU (American Ornithlogical Union) or sign in with AA.

MTV

The eagles were out in force yesterday. That left turn out over the land fill can get exciting on a nice sunny day when hundreds of eagles and seagulls are out thermaling right about pattern altitude! I had to dodge a few of them yesterday.

mtv wrote:

Mister701 wrote:I saw a goose damn near take down a C210 once. Luckily most of it wedged behind the prop and the pilot made a short pattern to a full recovery. Damaged baffling only though I wonder now if they treated it like a prop strike? That's a big bird but I've seen Ravens just as big on the North Slope.

I once saw a Stellar's Sea Eagle on the tundra near Cold Bay, and that thing looked like could stand flat footed and shit in a dump truck.
MTV

Oh lord I do love hyperbole. A bird THAT big could probably eat a giraffe and fill the dump truck before he had swallowed the head. I've seen mobs of Ravens herd ptarmigan in the dark and run them into the sides of buildings. They sometimes injure half a dozen at a time and then tear them to pieces. The wolves of the air. Eagles and owls on the slope use brute force and speed to gain advantage but I doubt they are as cunning as Ravens.

If ravens had thumbs they'd rule the world.

Gump

I'm still laughing at "stand flat-footed and shit in a dump truck."

Hell MTV, the mosquitos up there are big enough to do that.

gbflyer wrote:Hell MTV, the mosquitos up there are big enough to do that.

Naw, those little bastards are so small they land IN the mesh of your mosquito screens, crawl through, then fly away, looking for blood.

Problem actually is, there are at least ten billion of the little blood suckers per square inch.

The big ones are the interior mosquitoes that overwinter in the bark of trees, then come staggering out in early spring.....those suckers (pun intended) are HUGE, but the good news is, they're slow, having been stunned by those long, cold interior winters, so squashing the big bastards is easy....just wear goggles, cause the splash of sketchy guts can be ugly.....

In fact, in an early warm spring, enough of these things get hit by cars that the highways can get slicker than deer guts on a doorknob.

MTV

x2 on the dump truck comment. Literally laughing out loud!

We had a crew in flight school a class or two ahead of us that took a turkey buzzard to the cockpit. Knocked the IP out and luckily the student up front had the presence of mind (after the student in the rear hoisted the forward slumping IP off the cyclic!) to safely land the helicopter. The IP was pretty messed up but after some reconstructive surgery and some convalescent time he's back instructing.

I definitely dodge birds.

mtv wrote:In fact, in an early warm spring, enough of these things get hit by cars that the highways can get slicker than deer guts on a doorknob.

MTV

I like to call that "bug tapanade" owing to the olive-based cracker spread that bears a resemblance to a million winged insect guts on your grill.