Bird Strike

MikeOH58

Well-Known Member
Had my first bird strike today as a CFI. My student and I were doing a pre ppl checkride in an AA5, at around 1,000 agl doing turns around a point when we heard a loud THUD! and the airplane shudders to the left. My student caught the bird just as it hit the wing, and said it was a good sized seagull...

It had me pretty nervous at first, but im really happy how I reacted. The bird impacted the leading edge, maybe two feet from the tip, and left a crinkle/dent about 3 inches deep by 8 inches wide. Flying that low to the ground, and seeing your leading edge smashed up sure gets the addrenalin(sp) going. I immediately took the controls from the student, and flew back to the airport. I didn't declare an emergency, but I did ask for a straight in for runway 11 (we were from the North, active was RW 24)...Plane was flying okay, but I really didn't want to mess around and have to maneuver a traffic pattern if I didn't have to. Long story short, kept the airplane clean, and kept the speed up and landing, which was uneventful....

Just thought i'd share...

pictures to come later
 
Heres a WWYD question now that it happened and i'm thinking about it...There was visible damage, but the airplane was flying fine after the strike...Would you report the strike to the tower? I don't think it was emergency worthy, but was it right to tell the tower we hit a bird?
 
I wouldn't tell the tower. . .unless it happened on short final, or on the departure leg, or anywhere else in the pattern.

That's just me though.

Glad everything turned out fine.
 
Absolutely report it to the tower. The tower then records it and then they keep track of them. If more bird strikes are reported then they will get proper anti-bird strike stuff on the airport grounds.

Bird strikes are a dangerous thing.
 
"Was it right" is a question you should never ask in this situation. The fact is you made a decision as Pilot-in-command which you are supposed to do, there is nothing wrong with that. Actually, its EXACTLY what you are supposed to do. I've suffered bird strikes where I didn't feel it necessary to declare or even ask for priority handling but I wasn't there with you. If you conducted yourself as a professional and acted safely in the best interests of your student then I don't see why you or anyone else should ask "was it right?" Next time, and it will happen again, you'll probably be so bold as to return to the airport letting the student fly and flying the entire pattern.


Bottom line, don't second guess your decisions, thats what gets people killed.
 
*shrug*

I'm under the assumption that the bird strike occured well away from the airport. No amount of anti-bird technology ON airport property will ever curtail the amount of birds flying around non-airport property.
 
DOH, didn't read that. I thought it happened in the pattern. How far away where you from the airport? If it was like 10 miles away, then yeah not to much you can do.
 
I don't know too many CFI's that do ground reference maneuvers close to an airport, at least not a controlled one. ;)
 
Bird strikes are a dangerous thing.
Yes they are . . . here's from my first bird strike, at night. We think they were geese. We hit two one under my feet ant this one on the right wing. Split the seam!
 

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This reminds me, the UND plane that crashed killing the student and instructor, did they finally rule it was a birdstrike?
 
What's this anti-bird strike technology?

It's not necessarily anti-bird strike technology, but anti-bird population technology.

I'm not aware of any of the specific company names, but most of them deploy a certain acoustic technology, as well as deploying man's best friend (dogs) to disperse any bird population that is living on airport property.
 
I'm not aware of any of the specific company names, but most of them deploy a certain acoustic technology, as well as deploying man's best friend (dogs) to disperse any bird population that is living on airport property.

Propane driven air cannons normally do the trick. Also, some airports have used captive birds of prey to keep the population down or at least drive them away.
 
Those air cannons also have another use. . .dispersing fog. Not so frequent here in the states, but it's airport crack for Airport management and directors in Europe. ;)
 
I think there was an article about this in USAToday last week about using trained dogs to scare them off...I'd be worried about ingesting the dog into an engine while he was chasing a flock off!
 
Had my first bird strike today as a CFI. My student and I were doing a pre ppl checkride in an AA5, at around 1,000 agl doing turns around a point when we heard a loud THUD! and the airplane shudders to the left. My student caught the bird just as it hit the wing, and said it was a good sized seagull...

It had me pretty nervous at first, but im really happy how I reacted. The bird impacted the leading edge, maybe two feet from the tip, and left a crinkle/dent about 3 inches deep by 8 inches wide. Flying that low to the ground, and seeing your leading edge smashed up sure gets the addrenalin(sp) going. I immediately took the controls from the student, and flew back to the airport. I didn't declare an emergency, but I did ask for a straight in for runway 11 (we were from the North, active was RW 24)...Plane was flying okay, but I really didn't want to mess around and have to maneuver a traffic pattern if I didn't have to. Long story short, kept the airplane clean, and kept the speed up and landing, which was uneventful....

Just thought i'd share...

pictures to come later

my first bird strike was in a c320, first flight outta a 3000 foot runway.
extra noise on takeoff, with a small drop in RPM's on the right engine haha

i didn't even know till i landed.
n1010932374_30105252_3180.jpg

n1010932374_30105250_2585.jpg
 
I know it's a prelim, but that report seems pretty vague...doesn't mention any kind of damage or birds at all. Any UND folk have anything about this? Sad!

I suppose I should have posted more. There was bird (goose) DNA found on the wing when they examined it.

UND's paper had an article about it in April. http://www.dakotastudent.com/home/i...story_id=0091a229-9507-471a-8caa-b4f5f74fd311

We had a thread on it in the UND forum, I'll try to dig it up.....here ya go. http://forums.jetcareers.com/university-of-north-dakota/53957-plane-missing.html
 
Heres a WWYD question now that it happened and i'm thinking about it...There was visible damage, but the airplane was flying fine after the strike...Would you report the strike to the tower? I don't think it was emergency worthy, but was it right to tell the tower we hit a bird?


Since I fly at a class D airport with a few other's around it, if i was within 5-10 miles maybe, further, than nah.

you did great, exactly what you shouldve done! kudos!
also, it was a good experience for you and the student, luckily when i ended a birds life, it didnt cause any damage.
 
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