TigerFlyer
New Member
I'm an infrequent poster but regular visitor jetcareers. Yesterday I had an experience that I think others will find interesting. While on a very short local flight I encountered a large flock of small black birds that I could not avoid. I was level at 2,000ft and scanning for traffic. Center to left, center to right, center to left, and when I returned to center something caught my eye. I wasn't sure what I saw so I continued looking. Then the flock turned and I could see all of them, very close. Most of the bird were to the left of center so I turned to the right and pitched up. About 3/4 of the birds turned to my left and descended. I could see their change in direction progress through most of the flock but then the remaining 1/4 broke from the rest of the group. They pitched up and turned to the right...directly into my flight path. At that point I knew I was going to fly right through them as they were extremely close. I made a small, last ditch effort to avoid them by turning to the left but it was unsuccessful. They flew right into my path. Birds began hitting the airplane. I saw one coming directly for the windscreen and instinctively ducked. More birds hit the airplane. The noise was extremely loud and then passed. When I looked back out the windscreen there were three distinct impact locations with blood, feathers, and visceral material. I immediately executed a 180 degree turn and headed for the airport that was about 8 miles away. Once the turn was completed I noticed a different smell and it seemed I was loosing RPM. I checked the gauges and everything appeared normal but I added a little power. I looked at the left wing and there was numerous impact points with dents and missing paint. I found the right wing in the same condition. The plane I was flying, a Grumman Tiger, has wet wings at the inboard 1/3 sections so I looked closely for any leaking fuel and noted the level on the gauges. I turned on the electric fuel pump. While my adrenaline was definitely pumping I knew I needed to fly the airplane. I kept my altitude and speed up on final and made an uneventful landing. I shutdown the engine and hoped out to take a look. I counted 13 separate impact point on both wings, the windscreen and the cowl. Pretty scary stuff but I feel thankful the windscreen withheld the impact. I think most of the damage is cosmetic but am meeting a mechanic this afternoon to get a professional opinion. More to follow later...