ATTENTION
ALL MOONEY OWNERS:
see the MOONEYLAND BLOG
PAGE for information as to why a majority of Mooneys may not be airworthy and
how to simply check for that and the simple remedy you can take care of
yourself.
IS ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S
"the BIRDS"
MOVIE BECOMING A REALITY?
The crash
of a US Airways jet on Thursday is putting bird strikes
in the spotlight. The danger, however, has long been
considered at South Florida airports, where propane
cannons blast every few minutes to scare away birds --
among other attempts to keep wildlife off the airfield.
''Bird
strikes -- wildlife strikes -- happen on a daily basis
across the country,'' said John Ostrom, chairman of the
Bird Strike Committee USA, a volunteer
government/industry group. And they cost the aviation
industry more than $600 million a year, Ostrom said.
From
1990 to 2007, 79,972 bird strikes were reported in the
United States. But the Federal Aviation Administration
estimates that only 20 percent of strikes are actually
reported, according to the FAA's National Wildlife
Strike Database.
Fort
Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport logged 19
strikes in 2008; Miami International Airport, seven.
''As
we increase the number of planes in the sky, and due to
conservation efforts we increase the number of species
out there, I think we're going to see it happen more
often,'' Ostrom said.
The
reasons are simple: Many populations of wildlife species
commonly involved in strikes have increased markedly
during the past few decades and have adapted to living
in urban environments, including airports.
Meanwhile, air traffic has skyrocketed since 1980, and
despite current airline cutbacks, volume is expected to
continue to grow at a rate of 2 percent per year.
And
with quieter aircraft, birds are less able to sense
planes as quickly, or react as swiftly, Ostrom said.
Still,
the US Airways crash, in which both engines apparently
ingested geese, was highly unusual, experts say.
In the
18-year period covered by the FAA's database, eight
wildlife strikes resulted in 11 human fatalities.
Most
bird strikes occur between July and October, and a
majority happen when the aircraft is at a height of 100
feet or less above ground, the database shows. As in the
US Airways accident, aircraft engines are the part most
frequently damaged. (Miami Herald January
17, 2009)
Is the multiplying of bird species coming to get us?
Revelation 19:17-18.
And I saw an angel standing in the sun,
who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come,
gather together for the great supper of God, 18so that you
may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and
their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and
great."
Some aircraft pilots may
believe so.
Seriously, birds are seemingly becoming more of a problem with time, and now
they've taken down a large Jetliner.
For those of you who are
under the impression that your propeller will turn a bird into burger meat and
thus prevent cockpit penetration; check out the Mooney below.
Photos & Words
courtesy of Boyd Maddox "This is what
happens when you hit a 30 + pound buzzard with a Mooney M20E. He broke the
windshield and tore the top back to the roll tube. If it had been a spam can
(non-Mooney) he would have torn the top off and we would have lost the pilot and
plane. I got the insurance to pay for a new 201 windshield and away he went".
Boyd (note) Installing a 201 windshield conversion takes cutting the
roof way back to about where the damaged ended thanks to the steel roll cage
tube, so in this case the owner of this E model got a windshield mod out of the
deal. The bird was not so lucky.
If you
have flown long enough chances are you have had a near-miss encounter with our
fine feathered aviators, and it happens quickly even at 150 knots. At first you
see it (most pilots I fly with simply sit there and watch) when all of a sudden
like a close-up snap shot they are upon you. Some feel that; well the propeller
will chop them up before they do any damage while others simply feel that there
is nothing they can do to prevent a bird strike. There is something you can do
and that is to educate yourself about any potential flying hazard and that
should include birds.
It is
important to remember that not all birds out there are the cute little Sparrow
variety. Some are so large that at first you'd think it was another airplane,
but when it becomes evident that it is a bird, few pilots really take that
information as the threat that it is. Here in Texas we have some large varieties
such as the Turkey Buzzard. Some years back a Mooney 201 driver struck a Turkey
Buzzard with the inboard leading edge of the wing and man oh man did that make a
dent! It was almost like he struck something solid and stationary like a tree.
Other pilots have had birds come through windshields leaving some pilots at
least temporarily blinded by blood, guts, and the impact of the bird and I could
go on; so it is important that each pilot realize that birds are indeed a hazard
to the safety of even small airplanes and their occupants.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW AND DO:
Birds
are somewhat predictable so there are things we pilots should know and do about
the potential bird hazards.
1. The
minute you see a bird in front of you TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION TO AVOID IT! I
cannot over emphasize that enough because one second you see them out there and
the next moment they're in your face. React like you would had it been another
airplane instead of a bird. At the very least your insurance company will
appreciate that. At worst, THAT BIRD CAN KILL YOU!
2. Know
that when you are on a collision course with a bird, he is looking at you like a
picture or snap shot as well. There is no real sign of movement to either you or
the bird until often times it's too late to do anything about it. Don't just sit
there and watch in awe as many pilots I know do, kill that autopilot and get
outta there NOW!
3. Know
that most of the time (not all) a bird will have a tendency to DIVE once he sees
a collision is imminent. Your odds of striking the bird are lessened if you know
that, so the best reaction would be to bank, turn, and climb (all at once). You
may still strike the bird but if you react quickly enough, it will strike the
underside of your airplane which lessens the possibility of the bird penetrating
the cockpit or even your propeller which can cause a whole set of problems of
itself.
4. The
objective here is to try to avoid a bird strike all together and you can only do
that if you take immediate evasive action, and that means to train yourself that
if you see any object in the sky, don't wait around to look and see what it is,
just GET OUTTA THERE NOW! If you hesitate or your reaction time is slow, you are
opening yourself up to heartache or worse. Never think to yourself; "oh, it's
just a bird". That bird (or birds) can ruin your day.
Some
birds also fly at night and there is not much you can do to avoid those night
fliers except to know areas around your airport or city that birds are known to
migrate and gather.
Do birds
fly IFR? Birds like us cannot use their senses to maintain controlled flight in
clouds but this aviator has seen a bird in IMC conditions at least once. I doubt
he was flying happily under those conditions, but just like VFR pilots, they
sometimes find themselves IMC, so don't take it for granted that because you are
in IMC conditions, you may never strike a bird. It's possible that the confused
IFR bird may think that you are a hole in the clouds and head right for your
airplane.
VFR on
top? Yes, many of us have seen birds flying in flocks above a low cloud layer,
so there is really never a time that birds are not a potential hazard, so I
remind you that GOOD PILOTS NEVER TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED AND ARE READY FOR
ANYTHING AT ANY TIME!
Don't be
a complacent Dodo Bird, watch for the single bird as well as the flocks of birds
and make your move just as soon as your eyes see something out there. I remember
one flight over Santa Maria California as a young aviator when I saw something
out there and took immediate evasive action only to find out that it was a
silver and red balloon that had a heart shape on it with the words: I Love You!
That was at 6500 feet!
and
MORE!
Zef
You know dats right! 
NAVIGATION
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