Potential Bird Strike
I personally would prefer zombies invading the runway while doing my Umbrella schedule flights… ![]()
Birdstrikes are a great idea.
In many cases a birdstrike is harmless and nothing more than a flame coming out of the jet engine with an intense smell of grilled chicken BBQ in the cabin. But birdstrikes with birds more massive than I think 0,5 pounds said the FAA onto the cockpit glass can have severe consequences. Many small GA and business planes have crashed because of that, airliners seem to withstand the impact better and this only leads to a bloody smear on the glass.
Small business jet engines often get destroyed by birdstrike (sometimes both of them) and airliner turbines seem to be unharmed by birdstrikes.
The safest seem to be an Airbus or Boeing when birds in the vicinity… Or a park bench with some birdfood ready to hand ![]()
Small GA aircraft with canopy’s made of acrylic aren’t able to sustain much. Airliners and business jets alike with proper laminated windshields should be able to withstand birdstrike within their speed envelope. There are actually aircraft with a lower Vmo below x feet because they found birdstrike on the windshield to be the limiting factor
. Also the reason you should always turn on windshield heat when installed, it doesn’t only protect against icing, it also makes the windshield withstand impacts better.
Regarding engines it really depends which part of the engine they pass through, little pieces of bird through the core could cause a recoverable compressor stall, a big part through the core of the engine is likely game over for the engine. I have hit many birds in my career, mostly small ones luckily. A couple of times some big birds, luckily with little damage. In any case, don’t do what those guys did and go-around on approach due to birds:
It would be nice to have random flocks of birds popping up in the sim, but maybe also some single birds (like eagles) popping up here and there. Most encounters I had were with single birds rather than flocks of birds.
What is the correct handling with birds in final approach? Just put it down?
Yes, depending on the conditions of course. But especially on such a short final, when suddenly seeing a flock of birds, its probably better to hit a few on the way down then to hit birds on the way up with the engines at high power, and needing that thrust to reject the landing. I have been in this situation a couple of times, I continued and accepted that I would maybe damage the aircraft. I think it was the safest course of action. Usually after a short inspection (during turnaround) the aircraft can be released back to service if there is no damage. Just have to clean the remains
.
At least for the US I saw there’s a bird addon available. I haven’t bought it. Anyone try it??
That is so cool! That is exactly what we need to add life and realism to the sim!
Do you also train for hijacking? All kinds of fun possibilities come to mind.
I searched the forum and couldn’t find any mentions of this, but I know the competitor has had bird strike simulation for a long time, would MSFS be able to implement this? Possibly allow us to toggle it on or off, and also adjust the chances of it occurring?
lets get more specific here.. flamingo strike simulation.
Personal Comments and Observations
It may come on a product-by-product basis. FSReborn’s Piper M500 will have a simulated bird strike condition.
