flight delayed because of a mysterious dent in the planes nose - I'm sorry,...but a BIRD did NOT do this!!!!

I mean, how the hell could that much damage be done without the pilots seeing it coming or feeling the impact?

Whatever caused it, they aren't fixing it. No $$ will be spent on repairs.

Ah no shit?

Damn I hope im on the NO FLY list come next year!

Guess you never hit a buzzard doing 250+ MPH.

Well not lately.

Thanks mod's for fixing the title!

I highly doubt a buzzard would be flying at 30,000 feet though.

you can imagine the conversation in the cockpit whilst 'parking' the plane...

"easy mate at least another couple of feet to go... yep yep keep going,keep going, kee..."

THUD-CRUNCH

"back it up a bit their mate, won't say nothing, wink. wink looks like a bird strike to me!!"

No shit, I had one hit my truck at 70mph (me going 70) and it was unbelievable. Like a frickin' bomb going off.

Took out my drivers side window, I recovered the side mirror in the back seat.

Buzzard was deader than a hammer-instantly.

Made in China. Fell off.

Yes, birds do do this to planes. Think of the speeds involved.

The world record for the highest recorded flight was by a Ruppell's griffon vulture. This was recorded striking an aircraft over the Ivory Coast at 11,274 metres. Bar-headed geese are also high-flyers and have been recorded flying over the Himalayas at about 9,000m. The highest-flying British bird is the whooper swan. A pilot flying over the Hebrides recorded a flock at 8,230m

[link to www.rspb.org.uk]

1 meter = 3.2808399 feet

I've seen bird damage on airplanes....but it's never to this extent. And that cone has to be as durable as the rest of the plane, a dent I could understand but this thing is completely caved in.
I just can't see a bird doing this. Something else had to of hit that plane, but I cannot for the life of me think of what that could be unless you classify ufo orbs or something of that nature as a possibility.

I stands corrected LS. Who knew?

i was surprised as well.

i bet a bird did it. They cant exceed 250IAS under 10000, so a bird at 200 would do that. Hell, birds have taken jumbo jets down before. I say that plane is lucky it hit where it did.

ahh sure.. that's what bumpers are for! why don't they fit car bumpers on planes..?

Small day in doom-land if this crap is pinned.

a small chunk of Planet X

Mon back mon back mon back...thump....stop.....yer good...

Well they don't seem to know exactly when it happened....very likely a bird. Hit a Canadian goose at about 200 MPH on the climb up?.....you're gonna crunch some aluminum....

We're waiting for the inevitable....it'll be comin soon....don't worry.......then you'll see how it all ties together....

SHHHHH!!!! Fool, you've already said too much!!!! AHRRGGGG!!!!

crazy as it seems, the damage from a bird strike can be quite extensive. here's some other pics:


[link to www.strangezoo.com]

[link to thewebfairy.com]

[link to picasaweb.google.com]


And here's one that crashed due to engine failure:

[link to my.break.com]

And another video of a small plane being hit

[link to www.youtube.com]

Most strikes happen at take offs or landings, so not usually a high altitudes ;)

Wow!

I've seen bird strikes on airplanes before, but haven't seen one quite like this. And unless it's the "one in a zillion" incident, it left a nice, almost perfect round depression in the middle of the nose cone.

The first two things that come to my mind are... somebody ran into it with a large object (another plane while in the hanger and nobody noticed?) or was it due to the structural engineering of the nose cone and it's weak (or was purposely designed that way) so that a hit by a bird (or whatever) would cause it to collapse into itself in such a manner.

Sometimes you don't see or hear the bird strike while you're flying. You notice the damage once you're on the ground... unless it strikes your windshield and it cracks, etc. or is sucked into an engine and that causes it's own problems.

Next time you're at an airport and if you remember to look at the front edge of airplane wings (even airlines), check out the front edge of the wings. You'd be surprised at how many planes have indentions there. Especially the older ones.

And unless it critically affects the airplane's flight characteristics, most owners don't bother having the dents pulled out or repaired. Airplanes have landing gear, wheels, antennaes, struts, pitot tubes, lights, steps, handles, gas caps, and even engine cylinders (older planes) that produce a bit of drag. One more dent or indention probably isn't going to affect speed, fuel usage or handling too terribly much. I can understand why the pilots "never knew what hit them."

Since NorthWest Airlines is a commercial business and their reputation and condition of planes is important to their image, I'm sure they'll be repairing this plane pretty quickly. And I'd love to be a mouse in their Director of Aviation Maintenance's pocket and hear what he thinks it was.

Maria

Here's a documented bird strike on take-off
[link to www.youtube.com]

I clicked on this thread to question why it was pinned.

Now,I'm left with a mystery.

Generally, the nose cone area is not pressurized from inside, and that aluminum is paper thin.

[link to www.phoenixbirdcontrol.net]

The nose area can house radar, antennaes, sensors, etc. I haven't heard or experienced that nosecones are covered with thinner aluminum. I do know I've seen fiberglass and magnesium besides aluminum used. It was the damage pattern, without any other signs of a bird strike (feathers, blood, or bits of bone) that caused me to scratch my head. (See the first picture someone posted above.)

Maria

Jet planes take off around 150 to 200 MPH. While gaining altitude and descending for landing they are traveling 250+. At cruising altitude and speed they are traveling 500 to 600 mph (depending on the jet and the weather conditions).

Rough weather (turbulence) would have masked any impact with a bird which would most likely 'feel' like a bit of rough sky.

For the bird it would have been instant death - so fast it would not have known anything had happened.

As you may know, going all the way back to 9-11 on boards like these - Jets are basically tubes of tinfoil - thin sheets of aluminum over a frame. Hitting an average sized bird at velocity would leave a significant dent on the fuselage, nose and wing surfaces (top and bottom) Leading and trailing edges of wings (fore and aft) are more substantial and have extra bracing. The top and bottom of the wing structure is the same thin aluminum.

Mythbusters did an episode once on bird carcases hitting personal aircraft windshields - we are talking a small single propeller plane along the lines of a piper cub. Even at their low speed (of 150-250 MPH) a bird can go through the windshield or leave an impressive dent.

Was the buzzard named.....HILLARY!!!!