Now THIS is a bird strike!

[csziggy]

Turkey vulture smashes through plane's windshield in Fort Lauderdale

BY JOSE PAGLIERY
[e-mail]

A turkey vulture burst through the windshield of a twin-engine prop plane just as it took off from Fort Lauderdale International Airport on Monday. The pilot was able to land the plane safely.

The Cessna 402 had just taken off from airport runway 27L and was headed west when the pilot saw a flock of large turkey vultures ahead, the pilot told officials.

He was 600 feet in the air when a 20-pound vulture smashed through the Cessna's windshield and hit him in the face. Its bloody body stayed in place, impaled by the shattered polycarbonate plastic -- a material often used for football helmets.

The pilot told his supervisors at Air Flight Incorporated that he preferred to not speak with reporters about the incident, but co-owner Lisa Donovan said she would share details of what happened during the landing.

Donovan said blood splattered all over the cockpit when the ungainly fowl crashed through the plastic and hit the pilot's head, cutting and bruising him.

According to Broward Sheriff Office Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles, the pilot radioed in at 12:17 p.m., and firefighters rushed to the airport to await his landing.

Minutes later, the pilot safely landed the plane back at the airport.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/906777.html

The same thing happened to my dad back in the 50s - but he was in a car. He still had to drive a hundred miles home with a busted out windshield and bits of dead vulture all over the inside of the car. I remember going out early the next morning before he and mom had a chance to tell us what had happened and being afraid something had happened to dad. Terrifying when you are five years old!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. That would've scared the hell out of me! Sheesh! nt

[csziggy]

2. Those are big birds - and they can be very sluggish taking off

I've come close to hitting them when they are on roadkill and wait too late with an approaching car.

Hitting one in the air must be frightening. That pilot is lucky he did not lose control!

[Xipe Totec]

3. A friend of mine, driving through the Mexican sierras

had a turkey vulture fly into the cab of his pickup.

The bird panicked, and puked.

He had to have the pickup towed because nobody could drive it due to the stench.

The pickup had to be hosed down, and then aired for a month.

[csziggy]

6. I don't remember the smell from when Dad hit one, but he did trade that car off soon after

But it is scary coming out, seeing blood and feathers all over the broken windshield of your father's car and not knowing what happened.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

8. Yuck!!! nt

[XemaSab]

10. Holy shit

I can't imagine. :puke:

[Xipe Totec]

11. Actually, it came out the other end...

Or maybe both.

:evilgrin:

[Control-Z]

4. So happy to hear

it ended safely. I never knew birds could wreck so much havoc. Very scary stuff. :scared:

[petronius]

5. "... no one was aboard but pilot and vulture."

:rofl:

I doubt the pilot is laughing about this yet, but that is some seriously good flying, IMO...

[hootinholler]

14. Rule #1 of flying an airplane...

If you're airborne, never stop flying the plane.

-Hoot

[petronius]

16. That sounds like an extremely good rule

And based on that, I think my innate reflex of wiping vulture guts out of my eyes as quickly as possible (dropping all else) pretty much disqualifies me from flying airplanes...

:)

[remoulade]

7. When I was a teenager learning to fly we would chase birds and try to catch them.

Ducks, geese, whatever...they would look back at us and make a maneuver we couldn't hope to match...we never even got -close-. Something is different now. Yes I grant we weren't going super fast but we were, back then, in small -very- maneuverable planes. Birds can hear machines coming towards them...or they used to - maybe our loud aircraft have become 'inaudible' to them after all these years? Like I never hear
the trains any more that run by a mile away? (Unless I try, then it's easy)

[Bigmack]

9. Turkey vultures....

average 4 pounds in weight, not 20 like it says in the article.

A 4 pound bird "weighs" a lot when it's hit by a plane moving about a hundred MPH. A 20 pound bird would've killed the guy.

Luckily, no bird anywhere around here weighs that much. Canada geese are usually smaller than that.

[XemaSab]

12. Trumpeter Swans get up to 20

Hitting one of those would be a bad day. :(

[Mnemosyne]

13. Fabio knows a bird strike when he feels one:

http://sk1.yt-thm-a01.yimg.com/image/09a6201c8e12f5a4

[Lorien]

15. I was on a small prop plane flying into Burlinton Vermont that hit

an entire flock of seagulls. I couldn't believe it; the pilot COULD have flown above or below the flock-but he flew right into the center of it. I felt about six birds hit the plane and watched as one was sucked into the engine on my right. Feathers and blood splattered all over the windows. The plane landed safely, but as I was waiting for my ride with my bags I heard a call for boarding that same plane! I headed over to an agent and explained that there was a BIRD in the left ENGINE. Several minutes later I heard an announcement that the flight would be delayed. This was a Delta flight. I couldn't believe that they would just take off again after such a major bird strike!