Bird 1 - A400 0 - I bet that hurt

[Trevatanus]

Happened yesterday apparently.
I imagine it made for a few interesting seconds for the co-pilots life.
https://airrecognition.com/index.php/news/defense-...

[timbo999]

I expect the bird is none too pleased either...

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

Looks like they forgot to defrost them again.

Wonder what the hell they hit? Must have been goose sized looking at the damage.

[Simpo Two]

And from lower down, how can a bird do this? Unless it's fired from an 88...

[Krikkit]

https://twitter.com/breakingavnews/status/12760988...

Couple more interior pics of the avionics. I'm guessing geese, tremendously expensive!

Simpo Two said:

And from lower down, how can a bird do this? Unless it's fired from an 88...

It's a very concentrated mass hitting a light structure at 500-600mph, there's only so much the materials can take. The average Canada Goose is around 3.7kg.

A good example is the Columbia shuttle loss - hit by a briefcase-sized ~2kg bit of foam at 700mph that broke through a reinforced carbon-carbon wing surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suniiico7z4

Edited by Krikkit on Thursday 25th June 17:50

[croyde]

Shocking but the hits look side on. Would have though that head on it would have just slid past unless hitting the fuselage at the front.

Then what do I know.

[normalbloke]

croyde said:

Shocking but the hits look side on. Would have though that head on it would have just slid past unless hitting the fuselage at the front.

Then what do I know.

400kt crosswind..

[bitchstewie]

What's that weird little door on the side next to the writing?

[Huff]

It's where you reach in to remove the goose purée - i.e. you open it to take a gander.

[Turn7]

bhstewie said:

What's that weird little door on the side next to the writing?

Dogflap....

[Simpo Two]

Krikkit said:

It's a very concentrated mass hitting a light structure at 500-600mph, there's only so much the materials can take. The average Canada Goose is around 3.7kg.

Head on I can understand. But on the side?

[SmoothCriminal]

Are these things manufactured with bird scent on them or something as I'm sure the one on the red arrows programme got grounded by birds aswell when in America or Canada

[Crumpet]

Krikkit said:

It's a very concentrated mass hitting a light structure at 500-600mph, there's only so much the materials can take. The average Canada Goose is around 3.7kg.

Edited by Krikkit on Thursday 25th June 17:50

Not to be a pedant, but it’s rather more likely they were doing less than 250kts at the time and, depending where they were on the approach, much less than that. I’ve taken a fair few birds in my time, some of them quite large ( sorry), and all they’ve ever done is bounce off and leave a trail of blood, guts and the odd feather behind. It doesn’t look great that the structure has given way like that!

[croyde]

One of the remarks on twitter says it may of hit a pilot which then ripped out along with bits and bobs but that wouldn't explain the bits of bird inside the aircraft.

[Europa1]

croyde said:

One of the remarks on twitter says it may of hit a pilot which then ripped out along with bits and bobs but that wouldn't explain the bits of bird inside the aircraft.

May have hit. May have hit.

Write out a hundred times.

Sorry, but the whole "of" thing really yanks my chain.

[LunarOne]

Small female pheasant weighing less than 1kg at 58mph...



At 5x that speed can you imagine? Granted it's head on, but an aircraft descending with a high angle of attack could still suffer a heavy bird strike to a lower surface!

[eharding]

croyde said:

One of the remarks on twitter says it may of hit a pilot which then ripped out along with bits and bobs but that wouldn't explain the bits of bird inside the aircraft.

I think you mean "pitot".

At least I hope you do.

[OFORBES]

Huff said:

It's where you reach in to remove the goose purée - i.e. you open it to take a gander.

It was good for a gander, but not for the goose in this case.

[IanH755]

I think that what happened is this - the aircraft skin at that point isn't in line with the airflow and the skin is surprisingly thin, leading to a combination where the angle that the bird hit mixed with the thinness of the skin meant that the bird just punched through the skin into the aircraft just infront of the static vent and the hole left behind meant the airflow could then rip the static vent and it's "mini-ADC" electronics unit (see below) out of the airframe and into the airflow.

eharding said:

croyde said:

One of the remarks on twitter says it may of hit a pilot which then ripped out along with bits and bobs but that wouldn't explain the bits of bird inside the aircraft.

I think you mean "pitot".

At least I hope you do.

but to clarify the Twitter Comment, it's not a pitot probe thats been hit, it's a static vent from a "Smart-Probe" system - The pitot probe and TOAT are aft of those three static vents.

Here's a none-damaged aircraft with the static vent highlighted -



A Smart-Probe is the "new" way of measuring pitot/static/AOA/side-slip etc without extra weight/cost/bulk the more traditional way of connecting an Air Data Computer (ADC) to everything via pneumatic pipes. Instead the Smart Probes have a mini-ADC built into the back of each probe/vent so it only sends an electronic signal via wires rather than having to use pneumatic lines etc.

So far in military use they are usually only used as a tertiary system for things like an independent Height Cross Check monitor of the autopilot for TCAS certification etc as the secondary "standy-by" instruments still need to be directly linked to pitot/static via pneumatic pipes incase of power outages.

"Smart Probe chosen for A400M" - https://www.militaryaerospace.com/home/article/167...

Edited by IanH755 on Friday 26th June 00:50

[dudleybloke]

Well he won't do it again.