Do birds get splatted on plane windscreens?

Question

In the way that flies do on car windscreens?

Answer 1

Uh, no, it's a bit more of a drastic response than that.

If the bird is struck by a civilian aircraft, chances are pretty good that the window will break, but that's about it. Of course, the bird is going to be DOA from the impact.

But when a bird is struck by a jet aircraft - such as a passenger liner or a military fighter - the results are much more severe and are life-threatening.

Most bird strikes happen with geese and ducks, because these birds fly higher than the other, smaller birds. They also like to hang around open areas of land - like airfields. For those reasons, bird strikes with geese and ducks are highest on the list.

An average duck weighs about five pounds. The average military figher cruises at approximately 350 MPH. If that jet strikes a duck from the side or from behind, it would be like shooting a cannonball through the windscreen of the aircraft. The windscreen will be shattered, the canopy will be destroyed and fly off of the aircraft, and the chances are pretty good that the pilot will be seriously hurt if not killed outright. After that, the pilot must now land the damaged aircraft while essentially flying in an open cockpit at 350 MPH. A daunting task at best.

If the duck is struck by a commercial jetliner, the windscreen will shatter and the unlucky pilot sitting behind it will be injured. Since there is another pilot on board, the chances of getting the aircraft down safely are pretty good.

HOWEVER....if the duck is ingested into the air intake of the engine in either case, it's goodbye, Irene. The engine will IMMEDIATELY eat itself and most likely catch fire; if this happens with a fighter jet, the pilot will have no alternative but to bail out unless he can activate his fire bottles and get the fire under control.

If it happens to a commercial liner....well, you figure it out.

If the duck hits a part of either aircraft like the nose or the wing, it will have the same effect as shooting that part of the aircraft with a cannonball....it will destroy whatever part of the aircraft it hits. I've seen military fighters land with the ENTIRE NOSECONE gone because of a bird strike.

I knew several pilots in my Air Force career, and the one thing they ALL feard was a bird strike. The jets are travelling so fast, and the birds are so small that by the time they see the bird, it's too late to do anything to avoid it.

Answer 2

Yes they can do. I have had to clean up and replace a canopy and a windscreen because of one. I have also seen the result of a helicopter having a seagull go through the windscreen and splattering itself all over the pilot!
In general a bird tends to bounce off the slope of a windscreen and because of the forward momentum of an aircraft being so much faster than that of the bird the next thing in line is generally the intakes.
KFC time!!

Answer 3

Yes. Airplanes usually fly at a higher altitude than birds do, so it happens less often than with cars and flies. Some airports have workers whose job is scaring birds away.

Answer 4

Yes they do. They also have ben known to go THROUGH plane windscreens. More common are birds sucked into jet intakes.

Answer 5

Nope, the impact is a little bit more drastic & though THAT would be a great story to tell coming back from your holidays, wouldn't it?

Answer 6

It is uncommon for a bird to 'splatter' on a cockpit window or passenger window.
It is, although, common for them to get sucked into the engines and fried.

Answer 7

Sometimes, mostly they end up in the giant engines of planes.

Answer 8

They mostly get sucked into the engines if anything.

Answer 9

NO...coz they have a special kinda lamps in the airportz that keep birdz AWAY

Answer 10

They can do. Testing on an aircrafts chassis is actually performed by firing frozen chickens at it to see how it copes....