Birdstrike

The best job I ever had as a doc was as a Flight Surgeon. From time to time I got to climb in the back of a pointy-nosed jet and experience high G loads and pretend-combat.

As part of my duties I had to teach the ejection-seat lecture and tell the pilots about what stuff to keep with 'em if they had to punch out (it varies depending on environmental factors, and a survival kit and all kinds of crap is both on the pilot's suit and in the seat-pan), what to do on the way down, and how to position their bodies on ejection.

During my time with my squadron we had one ejection, it was because of a bird strike. I don't know what genus-species the 'turkey buzzard' is but that's what crashed our plane. The pilot was lucky as the big beast got sucked into the engine and did not hit the canopy (windshield) as the canopy-strikes often kill the pilot immediately or render him unconscious (and there's no 'auto-eject'). Bad way to go.

The video above demonstrates a bird-strike to an F16. If you watch closely you can see the bird get sucked into the intake which flames-out the engine and, more often than not, restarting it does not work. The pilot in the video has only twenty seconds or so till he has to hit the silk and he did a great job getting his jet away from houses etc...

After getting the feel of military combat aviation (I puked a few times which the pilots loved because they could razz me in the ready room and I had to clean up if I messed up the cockpit BUT they never GLOC'ed me (made me unconscious from high Gs)) I lost my fear of all the zipping around stuff, but the birds. Jesus H. Christ on a popsicle stick I almost died one day and I will never forget it.

We were 'in the pattern' at about 300 knots. We were descending and ZAP! I caught a blip off the nose at two o'clock. I knew right after it passed about ten feet above my head that it was a turkey buzzard... looked like a bowling ball in the sky. My pilot then came on the coms and told me we were lucky bastards (but I knew that already).

A flock of Canadian Geese brought down the NYC aircraft and I still can't believe that no one died. Let me beat PETA to the punch here and express my sympathy to the families of the geese killed in the accident and call for the President-elect to move with all haste to outlaw bird-unfriendly aircraft. Some of their incredible recent work is included below (emphasis and peanut-gallery comments mine).

2002 - Wisconsin Town Cancels Its Goose Hunt
Janesville residents bombarded PETA with calls and letters about the hunting of Canada geese in their city's public parks. Several activists were arrested while attempting to stop hunters, and despite offers from animal protection groups to work with the city to resolve the goose issue, the city refused to declare a cease-fire. PETA sent a letter to Janesville's city manager asking him to halt the war on the Canada geese and accept offers from PETA and other groups to assist Janesville in developing an effective and humane goose-control program. We posted an action alert encouraging our members and supporters to do the same. In September, Janesville finally ended the goose hunt until alternatives could be explored. (SUPER!)

2002 - Colorado City Becomes a Bird Sanctuary
Thanks to a committed team of activists and PETA, pigeons and many other birds in Boulder, Colorado, will no longer suffer and die at the hands of humans. On October 1, the Boulder (WOW, Boulder?Awesome!) City Council voted unanimously to pass an ordinance declaring the city a bird sanctuary that protects all wild birds. Migratory songbirds are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, but the Boulder ordinance protects birds left off the federal list, such as pigeons, English house sparrows, and certain kinds of starlings, cowbirds, blackbirds, grackles,and geese.