Cited on HN 5 times, 2010–2023, never outright recommendedscore 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
Cited as a vivid example of bird strikes and ejection, in threads on drones, aircraft collisions and ejections.
Cockpit camera footage of a jet hitting a bird after takeoff, losing its engine and the crew ejecting. Commenters note it is actually a Canadian CT-155 Hawk despite the F16 title.
“It's a video from a forward facing camera in an F-16 as it gets hit by a bird, which shuts down the engine.” (HN, 2015)
This video clearly shows what might happen when a single engine aircraft at <500 AGL hits an object. [this video] This was an F-16 that ingested a bird after takeoff, engine relight failed and pilots ejected after pointing the plane into a field.
Single-engine aircraft hits a bird after takeoff, pilots eject.
Actually, Relatively small birds have been known to penetrate the windshield of a Cessna and injure the pilot or even wreck the engine of a single engine of a jet like a BAE Hawk. See video of a Canadian CT-155 Hawk (Not F-16 as titled) [this video] For an airliner like an Airbus A320, a small bird can damage the engine fan blades and require an expensive repair. If the bird goes through the core even minor damage becomes very expensive to fix.
Cockpit footage of a CT-155 Hawk bird strike, mislabeled as F-16.
Yet sometimes a single bird will take out an engine: [link] Modern engines are designed to contain the damage, and multi-engine jets are designed to be able to maintain control, climb to a safe altitude, and return to the airport with an engine out, so flying a small drone into an engine probably won't cause a major disaster, but it will cause a lot of disruption as the plane declares an emergency and returns to the airport, and cost a lot of money to repair or replace the engine. One of the suggested videos for that one was interesting. It's a video from a forward facing camera in an F-16 as it gets hit by a bird, which shuts down the engine. The pilot tries for a while to restart, fails, ejects, and the plane crashes: [this video]
Cockpit camera as bird strike kills engine and pilot ejects.
Here's a nice cockpit camera view of a CT-155 Hawk ingesting a bird and then crashing in a field [1]. (The title and description say it is in F-16, but that is incorrect [2]). Why do you think drones would not be capable of causing similar damage? I have no idea about helicopters, but for aircraft with turbojet engines all but the smallest drones would hit the blades if ingested and that would cause damage. It might not cause a reduction or complete loss of engine power if the drone is small enough, but it would still cost a lot of money due to inspection and repair costs and down time. [1] [this video] [2] [link]
Cockpit view of a Hawk ingesting a bird and crashing.
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