The flight instructor reported that, during the instructional night, cross-country flight, while in level flight about 3,500′, a bird struck the Cessna 172M and went through the windscreen.
The airplane returned to the airport in Chico, California, without further incident.
Postaccident examination revealed that the windscreen sustained substantial damage.
The flight instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause: An in-flight collision with a bird.
NTSB Identification: GAA18CA048
This November 2017 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Speaking about bird strikes, I had one at night but a few during daytime. This may be due to the fact that most of my flying time is during the day.
What I noticed was that many pilots don’t seem to know that birds try to avoid a collision by diving down – even if they’re a little higher. We could have avoided a big bird just before landing, once, had my co-pilot (PF) known that. Had he pulled up just a little the big bird would have had enough space to escape our low wing.
All my birdstrikes have been at low or very low altitudes and way below cruising speeds, although I had a few near- misses at higher speed. We have landing or recognition lights ON always below 10‘000ft which has certainly helped to let birds flee before being hit. In a fast airplane I’d love to have these pulse lights. These give birds and airplanes a chance for getting out of your way.
That has been my experience as well. They almost always dive down.
This a very timely accident report. Geese DO fly at night, especially during the migrations. So, night flights anywhere near the flyways is unwise.
Even day flights along the foothills, where the soaring birds migrate, is dangerous. Some will glide to the next thermal where I’ve seen them spiral up from 2,000 – 3,000 ft up to what looks like 6,000 to 8,000 ft.
I’ve seen hundreds of birds in one long string fly in this mode. It would be a very bad day to fly into this group of birds.
I assume it’s a slow day at the publishers desk. A birdstrike at night. What is it that we can learn from this other than birds fly at night too.
A slow day at the accident publishing desk isn’t necessarily a bad day, imho. Owls fly at night, but I thought they were low level fliers. What other birds fly at night … at 3,500 over the valley … in November ? Or was it Jonathan Livingston Owl ?