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T-45C down at Kingsville today
- Thread starter bunk22
- Start date
In an amazingly similar incident in a VA-44 (FRS) T-A4 out of Cecil Field in '69. Lo-Nav w/fellow IP Squadron Leader (O-4) Ross Donaldson RNZAF (Xchange Pilot) rear seat, RP front. Over the Okeefenokee Swamp southern GA, 200-500' agl, 360 kts., a mallard drake smashed through the canopy port side hitting the IP square in the face, shattering his visor. One eye was gouged out, his face & the other eye severely lacerated.
Blinded & thinking they'd had a midair, the IP ejected. The RP calmly climbed to orbit the scene & iniated the successful RESCAP operation, then when relieved on-scene, then returned landing safely to Cecil. The IP was picked up some hours later, in the dark by a special swamp vehicle & rushed to NavHosp JAX.
Donaldson recovered, regaining enough vision in the remaining eye to remain on AD, limited to dual-piloted only status. He finished his Xchange tour, remained in the RNZAF, retiring as a Group Captain (0-6), from his finak posting as CO RNZAF Air Base Blenheim NZ in early '80s. I had the honor of being his Sponsor Officer when he was ordered to VA-44, and we & our families became close friends. He was quite a fellow & aviator, former Test Pilot (grad. of British Empire TPS).
BzB
I concur. I'm wondering how much of that has to do with the fact that there's a giant propeller up front to break things up into "manageable" pieces?
I don't know that they're that manageable. The only turkey buzzard I hit with an engine went straight into the #2 oil cooler intake. From what I could tell standing on the ladder looking in, there was the better part of two feet, a beak, and at least most of a wing to go with all the guts, blood, and feathers. While pureed on impact, it looked like it all came in together.
I take that back. I hit a turkey in Maine. An honest to God turkey wandered onto the runway and prematurely ended a bounce flight in Brunswick. We called tower to do a FOD sweep. They only found turkey parts. In that case the blades did a pretty good job with manageable pieces.
I take that back. I hit a turkey in Maine. An honest to God turkey wandered onto the runway and prematurely ended a bounce flight in Brunswick. We called tower to do a FOD sweep. They only found turkey parts. In that case the blades did a pretty good job with manageable pieces.
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
I've had one or two bird strikes in my life... Rotor blades do things to birds that I didn't think was possible...
I'm pretty sure either (or both) Paula and Ken (aka, "Super Ken," THE best trouble-shooter on the line) told me the tooth story, so I'm considering it pretty legit.
Ironically, the few WORST flying birds I flew didn't have teeth on them. God knows what some stud/IP did to them, but they sure as hell didn't fly straight. "Wait, my ball is centered, my AI is level, but my RMI is turning...what the hell?"
A turkey on the runway? Eh. Pales in comparison to the midair (yeah, I said midair) deer strike of THREE deer my buddy had. He was upset he didn't get two more so he could have been an ace in one night.
I took a little bird square in the windscreen once at night. The spot it made was a little bigger than a softball, mostly yellowish in color, and reminded me of hitting a giant bug on the highway. That same night we found close to a dozen more spots like that on the flaps during postflight.
Was he the IP who was publicly berated for not "expecting the unexpected" while preparing for his flight?
Yup. Helpful advice, isn't it? He also has one of the best callsigns ever from our JO tour.
This was the second deer strike in a month and at that time, this is when our squadron was told we need to be doing it better...after we had just out-produced the other two squadrons in the wing and had the highest Advanced completion rate out of all 6 primary squadrons in CNTRA. Not a great time to be in Wing 5.
Midair? Maybe a reconition problem......perhaps Reindeer, fat jolly dude in a sled, practicing "roof & go" landings?
BzB
This wasn't Hyfi was it? I've been trying to figure out his callsign since he was my onwing back in the day.
Yup. I'll give you the first one...the H stands for his last name. And yes, the F is what you would think it would be.
I PCS'ed away right before that standdown so I missed the show... but I heard about it from my friends. Weird, and unfortunately there were a lot of other similar weird things back then.
H... You Fucking Idiot