Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19981205092530.02d7da44@olsusa.com>
Date: Sat, 05 Dec 1998 09:25:30 -0500
To: lancair.list@olsusa.com
From: Tom Nalevanko <tom@mstay.com> (by way of Marvin Kaye <marvkaye@olsusa.com>)
Subject: Lancair ES Bird Strike at CMA
Mime-Version: 1.0

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Earlier this week, a CMA-based Lancair ES collided with a seagull over 
CMA. The bird hit the lower pilot's side windshield and took out about a 
third of it. The good news is that the pilot was able to sideslip the 
plane to a short approach and land successfully. 

Some background: I had helped a bit to build this ES; it has about 100 
hrs. and was being flown in a nice white primer. The overall workmanship 
is very good and the interior was beautifully done in leather.

The pilot reported that he was doing 140 mph (seems pretty fast to me for 
the airport area) and did not see the bird prior to impact. The Lancair 
ES windshield is 0.25 in. thick and it broke into pieces that were 
irregular and between 2 and 3 in. on a side. One piece struck the pilot 
in the head, requiring 18 stitches and drenching the pilot's white shirt 
in his own blood. Seems like most everything that broke ended up inside 
the plane, the seagull also. On the exterior, there was just one swatch 
of highly munched seagull near the top of the vertical tail. There is no 
evidence that the bird impacted the propellor.

Now for the really bad news... Every (and I do mean every) square inch of 
the interior of the plane looks like it has been painted with seagull 
puree! This must have been a big one... It is truly difficult to imagine 
this without seeing it! Imagine taking one giant, just-fed seagull; 
stuffing all its body orifices with M-80s and detonating them all at 
once! And the insurance company asked that the interior not be cleaned 
until they could inspect it (which took 2 days). So the seagull spackling 
is now very difficult to remove (and stinks too).

Any moral to this story: always fly wearing glasses as this could happen 
to you.
-------------------------
Good building,

Tom Nalevanko
Stallion Builder