Microlighters

A bird strike can have terrible results for most aircraft
Some people say that as a microlight is so slow that a bird strike is not really a danger as the impact speed is not great, and in any event the
pilot should have time to take evasive action anyway.
I am not sure I agree. I hit a hadeda once in a trike, and it was not nice
Luckily I had a Warp Drive prop which suffered no damage, but had that 1kg bird hit me in the face or chest at 65mph, it could have been nasty
Another good reason for wearing full face helmets by the way
Has anyone else had bird problems (the feathered kind krusty :D )

I have hit a swarm of little brown jobs once, no harm done (except to a bunch of LBS's), but the big birds scare me. Look what a bird strike can do

zoofly wrote:(the feathered kind krusty :D )

Clearly I'm outta this one


It's amazing how fast your offline personality can be detected online!

I've never had a bird strike but I have had 3 bees down my shirt while riding my Honda Blackbird. Other road users saw an idiot on a red bike trying to beat himself to death. :D

mtc - you sure he hit a bird - looks like a kudu to me!

Not had one in trike, but think guinea fowl could kill you. Hit one in a blik aerie once and not much left of the perspex. Luckily it hit partially on the alu centre section and passed over the top, but not nice..... If in critical phase of flight could be very bad....

Surely same would hold true for helicopter as they also not that fast....

demon wrote:This might sound unbelievable, but I almost had a tussle with an ......
ostrich
the other day
Luckily for my credibility Batman had his digicam, and I have asked him to send me a pic of this strange occurance

, And at what altitude was the Ostrich? BTW this is not a bird strike, this is a BIRDstrike

On a more sober thought, we down here in the Cape encounter the ol' Ostrich more than you guys up there. They are extremely sensitive birds, and if panicked they will run through fences, etc to get away. If there are chicks they will all run in a group and the front ones will invariably run in to a fence and the rest will just follow crushing those in front. We have a delicate relationship with the farmer next door to Morning Star and as long as we all follow the rules things are fine. So my suggestion is to try not to spook them or chase them at a low level, it could end up costing us Microlighters more that just the cost of a few dead birds. Sober thought ends.

I can see it now demon.

Two ostriches sitting in the pub and the one turning to the other saying "eish I almost had a trike strike this morning" :D :D

I've seen what a Gunea Fowl can do to a Puma, (those big heli's).
Plane was grounded, and needed repairs, which ioncluded a welding machine.

demon wrote:This might sound unbelievable, but I almost had a tussle with an ......
ostrich
the other day
Luckily for my credibility Batman had his digicam, and I have asked him to send me a pic of this strange occurance

Bird must be in air for it to be bird strike. If on ground it more like hit and run

RV4ker wrote:If on ground it more like hit and run

Or maybe run and hit

Duck Rogers

demon wrote:This might sound unbelievable, but I almost had a tussle with an ......
ostrich
the other day
Luckily for my credibility Batman had his digicam, and I have asked him to send me a pic of this strange occurance

Demon did it look like this ?


or like this ?


Cos if was # 2 I would just run...... fast

demon wrote:i can imagine "duck" rogers finds this topic a bit touchy

duck and run maybe

Duck Rogers

Heard about the world famous wild life photographer (alias the Demonic One)?

Sad, his last landing was as ostrich fertilizer.

On a more serious note ….

There are a lot of crows around Cato Airfield. I think that they are too smart to be hit by a microlight as opposed to the Hadeda Ibis which appears to be an incredibly stupid bird species.

Anyone know of a crow being hit by a microlight?