Hey Steve.
Did you delete a post?
It showed up in a notice, and claimed it was in this thread, but it seems to be gone.
To respond to the questions you posed in it:
When you first claimed your birdstrike, you did not indicate it was in a TA4 or A4.
The post read like an airline incident, which I would have surely recalled, since there have only been a very few that have penetrated the airframe, as you described.
One in my airline in 32 years.
I would surely have remembered it.
So....There was no effort to discredit it.
I was just suspicious that it was not an airline incident, which it wasn't.
I have no personal feelings about this issue whatsoever.
My one and only point in this and other similar discussions is to point out how the drone community is foolish to claim that bird danger is far more serious than drone mishandling.
Birds and airplanes have been operating together for over a century, and pretty well, if you ask me.
Goofy people operating drones in dangerous areas are stupid.
It's that simple.
I did delete a post. Unfortunately, I have a condition called an essential tremor. It makes typing a real pain in the a**. And sometimes it causes me to post a reply while I am midway through typing it. (after composing this post, and checking it, it took almost 15 minutes to type. sucks.)
As to the current discussion, we are getting way off point between you, me, and ac0j.
In my experience, bird strikes are not uncommon. But most are small birds which just bounce off the bottom of the fuselage. I have had many. Not a monthly event, but common enough to be "no big deal", perhaps 2-3 per year. Often we saw nothing, but heard the impact from below. Usually the only evidence was a smudge on the skin. In my experience, all were on approach. I don't recall hitting any on takeoff. I have quizzed some of my friends, and their experiences are similar. I think I may have had two, or three which were big enough to find parts remaining behind.
Sometimes, it seems to me, that you challenge people unnecessarily when their experience or data does not match your own history. I remember when I felt you were challenging my integrity about my own A-4 birdstrike experience. You said you would like to see the report. You went on to say that during your Navy flying no one in your squadron, Group, or Wing ever had a bird strike. I went in search and found this in a Navy Publication:
http://www.public.navy.mil/NAVSAFEC...gazines/approach/Approach-MECH_Vol_61_No2.pdf
"In the 30 years between 1981 and 2011, naval aviators reported more than 16,000 bird strikes resulting in $372 million of damage." That equates to 533 per year. With 9 operational wings, 59 per wing per year. So there may have been bird strikes in your wing about which you were not informed. Remember, not all bird strikes are big news.
But the bottom line is that none of this means anything when it comes to drones and airplanes. We shouldn't even be wasting space on a drone board discussing birds.
Airplanes can be anything from an ultra light or a glider to an Airbus 380. Speeds can range from negative speeds to Mach runs. Drones are structurally very different from birds.
Here is the link to the video of an F-16 swallowing a bird, resulting in a crash.
One bird, one less F-16.
In regard to airliners, while multi-engine airliners can fly and land with an engine out, we know that airliners in just that condition have also crashed. It would be a poor defense to cause a loss of an engine, then say the resultant crash wouldn't have happened if the pilot was any good. In my past five years working for Boeing, training crews from all over the world on the Dreamliner, I have come to find that the bell curve of pilot skill levels is a lot broader than I found while operating for a major US airline for 30 years.
I am afraid that when people discuss airliners not being downed by birds, they may be sending the message that there is no need for concern for those flying to set record distances, or altitudes, or to get a really cool shot of an airplane. And, of course, I bet most of those record range guys have no idea where the VR routes are. (Or even what a VR is.)
Bottom line:
Drones are a serious threat to manned airplanes and should be operated with that in mind at all times. I believe you will agree with that.
Falcon 104