Bird strike?

Here's an odd question..Has anyone ever struck a bird in freefall? If so, how hard was the impact? I only ask out of curiousity - I haven't ever hit anything myself...

The majority of birds normal flight levels are low enough, that if you hit one in freefall, you're in serious serious trouble (read: the majority of birds don't go above 1000ft with out cliffs and stuff near them to fly to/from at that altitude)

ya, like dave said, if your low enough to hit a bird, you've got other problems.

now i have heard of some close calls under canopy. hell, my dad had a bird like chasing him one day when he got out for a hop and pop, and it was really weird, the bird was at like 3 or 4 grand. but this was very odd, we usally don't see birds that high around here.

later

this has been brought up before - and yes it has happened, check the link for the story and pics (about half way down the page)

http://www.skyxtreme.com/archive/july2000/safety.html

Dave, you're absolutely right, but there are some birds which can fly over 30,000ft - There's always an exception to the rule.

I personally have looked down at 5000' only to see a dozen buzzards directly below me and deployed instantly-luckily only doing a solo. Upon inflated canopy the buzzards were a 200 or so yards off and at 3200'. It wasn't as close as I thought it was going to be but it was still an eye opener

As for the impact I would imagine that hitting a 7-12lb buzzard at 120mph would result in death or dismemberment or both.

what about Jonathan Livingston Seagul?



peace

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And its been brought up that odds are thats a faked picture. Ever see what a bird looks like after hitting your car?

Yes I have and they look like dead birds. I hit one going 100 mph way back in the day, while driving my 1965 delta 88 and He stuck in the grill. besides no longer living, he looked almost perfect.

Also, I've also opened right next to Falcons (the bird of prey, not the canopy) at 2500 feet. It was strange how unconcerned he appeared cuz he just kept flying near me.

Birds of prey have also proved to be a good indicator of a nice thermal.

I've been riding a thermal w/ a hawk at 3000' on a really long spot.

Ken

Birds can sometimes be at higher altitudes. I made a high hop-n-pop one day and had a small bird fly by me at 11,000 feet as I was under canopy.

Just last year I went through a flock in freefall, as I recall about 3,500 feet. In 30 years of jumping I have never heard of a birdstrike, until reading the link above. I think that generally a person in freefall is going slow enough, and making enough noise, for birds to notice and avoid us.

slow enough? I wouldn't call 200km/h slow.

How about aircraft.... They're a bit louder, and they get hit...

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...hell, my dad had a bird like chasing him one day when he got out for a hop and pop, and it was really weird, the bird was at like 3 or 4 grand...

When I was looking in to doing my first balloon jump, I found this page. They took a balloon to 3000m with a camera flyer, a peregrine falcon, and a tandem. The tandem student had a lure that the falcon was trained to follow. The falcon followed the skydivers with ease during the fall. I assume they used the balloon because a falcon would have trouble doing it's first exit on a plane. If someone has the video from this I would love to see it.

In reference to the sound of skydivers, has anyone heard ever heard a jumper in freefall from a stationary position? Maybe we are pretty noisy and slow enough to avoid. Also planes can travel faster and are much larger than most skydiving formations.

>In reference to the sound of skydivers, has anyone heard
>ever heard a jumper in freefall from a stationary position?

Oh yes, we make quite a lot of noise. On a no-wind day it's very easy to hear jumpers in freefall directly above you, if there are no other sources of noise on the ground or in the air. I'm sure the birds have no trouble hearing us a mile away.

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You have to watch for some types of birds. Canadian geese, for example, migrate at altitudes up to 3000 feet depending on winds and terrain. Also, their sheer numbers makes them more likely to hit.

I think you can extend that to more types of geese and add several 1000 feet to the possible altitude.

I have seen a flock of migrating geese in the North of the Netherlands ABOVE us during the climb to altitude. At that moment the plane was reaching 6000ft !

They must have flown well above 6000ft AGL; I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes...

They were using the strong uppers to cover more ground, so I think you can predict more or less when you would have a chance to see this (migratory season + specific set of weather conditions)

The normal course of things however is that you rarely see birds flying higher than 1000ft AGL.

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As for the impact I would imagine that hitting a 7-12lb buzzard at 120mph would result in death or dismemberment or both.

Pic is worth a thousand words!!

better shot!

A friend and I were riding motorcycles going 55 mph when a black bird came out of the ditch and hit him in the middle of his chest. The impact took him back from the handle bars and up against the sissy bar behind him. He got back forward and stopped the bike. The middle of his chest was swollen and badly bruised. I would not like to see what would have happened at just twice the speed!

I had the privilege to fly under canopy with a bald eagle once...quite amazing flying together. I got so into it I had to keep an eye on where I was going to land!!!

Do you guys remember the story that was in skydiving or parachutist this summer about that Golden Knight that got attacked by a hawk or some other large bird while he was hang-gliding??? Funny story...must have been pretty scary at the time.

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You have to watch for some types of birds. Canadian geese, for example, migrate at altitudes up to 3000 feet depending on winds and terrain. Also, their sheer numbers makes them more likely to hit.

I hit what I think was a duck at some 5,000 feet in an airplane. The windscreen on a Dash-8 is just about indestructible, but there was a LARGE splat mark, with a goodly portion of giblets smeared away from the point of impact.

We had a Canada goose (might have been a Barent's - I can't tell them apart easily) that penetrated the leading edge of the wing and stuck in the spar, which is a really impressive amount of damage to sustain from airborne poultry.

The closest I've come to a bird while skydiving was well over 1,000 feet under canopy. I nearly had a wrap with what looked like an golden eagle (it could have been a big mother hawk); we saw each other at about the same time, and it did some very startled-looking evasive maneuvers.

All things being considered, I'm glad that most birds and bugs occupy lower altitudes. Having had a June bug hit a testicle while riding a motorcycle at 50 mph (I damned near crashed), I shudder to think of freefalling through a seagull at 120 mph.


Blue skies,

Winsor

Damnedest birdstrike I ever had was a duck (identified by bill/head parts implanted in leading edge) at about 3000'agl, (about 4000'msl)... the strange part, it was IMC, deep in the clouds. Descending into Tullahoma about 30 miles out. The bottom of the layer was reported to be about 200-500' all through the area. That duck had climbed through more than 2000' of thick heavy IMC.

First and only duck I ever met with an Instrument rating.

Chris


I was doing 4-way one day and as we broke, 2 of us tracked by a buzzard at about 2000' agl.. (ok maybe it was 1500', ok... but no lower than a grand, I swear!)

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Having had a June bug hit a testicle while riding a motorcycle

mmmm

How did you manage to do that?