Bird strike?

[gilgsn]

Hello,

Has there ever been any bird strikes with a gyro? The rotor disc is large compared to an airplane, so I am wondering.. Do gyros fly slow enough for birds to avoid them? What would be the effect of a bird hitting a rotor blade? I mean, like a sparrow even a dove size bird? (I can imagine a goose..).
I am sure it would be rare enough not to worry about it, but I am curious..

Thanks,

Gil.

[GrantR]

Some guy hit an eagle one time. There is a thread somewhere. It didn't hurt the gyro.:)

Here it is http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6353&highlight=bird+strike+eagle

[Passin' Thru]

I once hit a crow dead solid about 2 feet from the tip. Only damage was a bloody streak across the blade.
I was once flying low over an open field of sage and flushed a bunch of larks. I had them in the blades, in the prop and in the chest. No damage.

[helipaddy]

Here's a multiple birdstrike, luckily she appears unharmed

[brett s]

I've hit more (small ones) than I can count in helicopters - small ones (sparrow, dove sized) aren't a problem, big ones can potentially kill you. Depends on exactly what it hits & how lucky you are.

In my A&P days I had to repair a Cessna Caravan that hit a duck in cruise flight with a wing - it crushed the leading edge all the way back to the main spar.

Saw a seagull hit dead on the nose of a CH-47 at 120 kts, it disintegrated & left chunks all over the entire front - nasty to clean up!

Doves & other small birds just go "pop" when hit with a blade, if you're lucky the remains miss you entirely :)

[karlbamforth]

Here's a multiple birdstrike, luckily she appears unharmed

She must suffer a lot of bird strikes, her hat has a built in visor to protect her eyes.

[jcarleto]

I ran into a flock of crows once in the GyRonimo on takeoff at RMG. They were feeding in the tall grass adjacent the runway and took off in front of me just as I broke ground. None actually hit the gyro, but I did swat one out of the air onto the runway with my hand to keep it from going through the prop. It was nearly in my lap at the time.

[birdy]

Hit plenty of birds, they always come off second best.
Solong as they hit the rotor, not the prop.
I hada nasty eagle ere years ago that thought it owned the skys, and would attack me wenever i was in his patch.
Normaly i wouldnt bother, but he'd always attack from behind, and im not sure a WD prop would fair too well if he argued with it.
Seen a set of Fglass rotors after they split an eagle. Poor eagle.
Iv hit alota harder things than birds and no damage.

[Redbaron]

Here's a multiple birdstrike, luckily she appears unharmed

I'd hit it! :p

[choppergabor]

I have hit a buzzard but it was with a heli. The damn feather that stuck to my blade got the one blade so out of balance I had to land. Once I cleaned off the "stuff" of the leading edge the thing was just like new. Those things play chicken with us and attack from the top. ????? Crazy buzzards.

[Penguin]

I have heard rumors that some Morons have been known to dogfight buzzards. The prevailing wisdom is not to let them get above you as they WILL crap on you!
No birds were harmed in the making of this post.

[Resasi]

I have played in the air with a couple of the Raptors we get on the field. They are quite familiar with the gyros and seem very unperturbed.

When flying round some haybales that were stacked up on the field a Buzzard sat on one of my 'pylons' and watched me go past a number of times quite close to him/her and wasn't bothered at all.

The smaller Falcons are very agile, the Buzzards less so. The only ones that do worry me a bit are the Rooks which we get in quite large flocks. One of those in the face would be a tad unpleasant.

[brett s]

You learn real quick that buzzards dive when they get scared, don't fly right underneath them. South Florida in the wintertime is loaded with those things...

[JRB549]

Larry, I too have heard that rumor huh. Anyhow crapping is least of your worries if you are under a vulture, they will expell all of their gut to get light enough to evade those in persuite, I have also heard. You do not want that foul smelling stuff on you, I dont think you could land and wash it off fast enough....so I'm told.

[Doug Riley]

They will fold their wings and dive out of the way if they are aware of you. We make enough noise and travel slowly enough that this is the usual outcome.

OTOH, a hang-glider pilot told me that he sqawked at a hawk once when he and it were using the same thermal. The bird flipped upside down and presented its talons for a fight, before deciding that the opponent was too big and diving away.

Igor Bensen ran an article in the PRA mag many years ago, documenting his efforts to test his metal blades in bird strikes. He used a large prerotator that (he said) spun the blades to flight RPM. I have my doubts that the RRPM was really over 400, which is the flight RPM of Bensen blades -- but, anyway -- he had his employees catapult dead birds of various sizes into the rotor disk edgewise. The smaller ones left feathers and a smear. A turkey crumpled the skin a bit, but the blade was still flyable.

A friend of mine participated in a project to re-establish migration of trumpeter swans. He flew a trike that the swans had been raised to follow. One of the birds would hitch free rides by biting onto one of the leech lines of his trike wing and allowing him to tow it. Trumpeters are huge birds, almost man-tall. Aero-towing one threw the trike pretty badly out of trim.

[jcarleto]

You learn real quick that buzzards dive when they get scared, don't fly right underneath them.

Buzzards and several other birds do something else when they are scared that is also a good reason not to fly underneath them. :eek:

[gilgsn]

Thanks guys, I am glad rotorblades are that tough!

Gil.

[dino]

Birds and Gyros

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I put this post on a while ago. (Avoid Buzzards)

The thread on bird strikes reminded me of a nasty incident I had 2 years ago when I was climbing out of St Merryn aerodrome in Cornwall. I was climbing into wind and noticed a buzzard circling ahead of me it seemed a long way off so I didn't pay much attention to it. I looked down for a quick scan of the instruments, ASI 65 knots, Water temp ok, EGT ok, Engine RPM ok, Altimiter 250ft. When I looked up, to my horror the buzzard had stopped and was hovering into wind and just to the right of the machines nose, my left hand started to move from the throttle to the stick to brace for the impact which thankfully didn't come as the bird passed just under the outer edge of the advancing blade. I couldn't stop shaking for a while after. A buzzard looks big when its sitting on top of a telegraph poll but its a dam sight bigger when its in the sky.

[Resasi]

Yes. Those 'in-your-face' moments can certainly give one pause for thought.:)

[scott heger]

Add the faster speed of a helicopter, and it gets ugly/expensive. Notice both front windshields were broken when he hit a flock at night.

Scott Heger, Laguna Niguel, Ca N86SH

[dragonflyerthom]

Yea that happen between Little Rock and Memphis. It was a med flight. Put them down near the Interstate 40 all night.

[Penguin]

J.R. - I've heard of another creature that emptied its stomach contents at Wauchula after too many libations. It wasn't a buzzard - it's rumored to have been a penguin!
Missing you morons.

[birdy]

Yardn up sum moos yesterday, and there just happened to be a swarm of 5" locusts in the same spot.
Cept for haven to duck occasionaly, they werent a problem.
But the f$#%@ hawks that were diven in and picken um off left their run VERY late a coupla times.

[jcarleto]

Yardn up sum moos yesterday, and there just happened to be a swarm of 5" locusts in the same spot.

Whole new meaning for bugs in your teeth, eh?

[SGK]

Not direct hit, the rest of the body is intact. Alu rotor, no damage, good to know. I've managed to avoid 5-6 birds in few months period. All sizes, most of them during tgl's. Soon or later... :-(