Interesting Birdstrike Report

[Wolfala]

IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: UPS28 Make/Model: B757 Description: B-757
Date: 11/03/2005 Time: 2325

Event Type: Incident Highest Injury: None Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Unknown

LOCATION
City: COLORADO SPRINGS State: CO Country: US

DESCRIPTION
ACFT, UPS28, A B757, ENROUTE FROM SDF TO MHR, STRUCK A GOOSE AT FL360.
ACFT DESCENDED TO FL280, DUE TO THE WINDSHIELD BEING CRACKED AND CONTINUED
ON TO DESTINATION. PILOT DID NOT DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. OVER COLORADO
SPRINGS, CO



FL360...Golly-geen...

[Debonair]

Originally posted by Wolfala
FL360...Golly-geen...

More evidence RVSM is dangerous

[Bodhi]

I heard that when that happened on the squawk box...

Was a bit confusing, interesting to hear what it was.

[Gunslinger]

Excuse the ignorance but FL360 is 36K Ft right?

If so WTF was a goose doing that high up????????

[GreenCloud]

yes 36,000 feet.

and how the F does a goose fly that high?..not freeze?..its liek minus 40- up there??


fishy

[Russian]

I guess I need to tell recon to fly higher….

[Furball]

its a rook goose on climb to combat alt.

[Pooh21]

Originally posted by Furball
its a rook goose on climb to combat alt.

[LLv34 Jarsci]

Birds regularly cross alps and Mt. everest is near 9km tall. I have heard that its not that unusual to meet immigrating birds crossing Alps at high level. They can shut down blood veins going into their legs and rear end, saving heat while doing that. Only wings and lungs working, but they must have helluva lungs to get the oxygen needed , at 360kfeet  oxygen pressure is minimal.

But hey, whales dive at  4-6 km deep , so whats new in animal world...

(we humans make such a noise about some achievements while animals have been doing that for ages, been there done that...)

[Dinger]

Originally posted by Debonair
More evidence RVSM is dangerous

Sorry, that was cute.

[TimRas]

"At 29,028 feet, Mount Everest is tall enough to poke into the jet stream, a high-altitude river of wind that blows at speeds of more than 200 miles an hour. Temperatures on the mountain can plummet low enough to freeze exposed flesh instantly. Its upper reaches offer only a third of the oxygen available at sea level--so little that if you could be transported instantly from sea level to Everest's summit, without time to acclimatize, you would probably lose consciousness within minutes. Kerosene cannot burn here; helicopters cannot fly here. Yet every spring, flocks of bar-headed geese--the world's highest-altitude migrants--fly from their winter feeding grounds in the lowlands of India through the Himalayan range, sometimes even directly above Everest, on their way to their nesting grounds in Tibet. Then every fall these birds retrace their route to India. With a little help from tailwinds, they may be able to cover the one-way trip--more than 1,000 miles--in a single day.
....
Several other bird species regularly brave extreme altitudes. Among them are whooper swans, which were once observed by a pilot at 27,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and the European continent, and bar-tailed godwits, which have been spotted at almost 20,000 feet. And then there's the occasional hardy individual that makes a high-altitude cameo.

The highest-flying bird ever recorded was a Ruppell's griffon, a vulture with a wingspan of about 10 feet; on November 29, 1975, a Ruppell's griffon was sucked into a jet engine 37,900 feet above the Ivory Coast--more than a mile and a half higher than the summit of Mount Everest. The plane was damaged, though it landed safely. "

http://magazine.audubon.org/birds/birds0011.html

[Simaril]

And what is RVSM?

[Fishu]

Originally posted by Simaril
And what is RVSM?

Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum.
1000ft lateral separation between airplanes at or above FL290 to FL410

USA changed from C(onventional)VSM to RVSM early in this year.
In CVSM lateral separation is 2000ft at or above FL290.
In other words more efficient use of airspace.

FL means Flight Level, which means altitude with stantard air pressure: 29,92in (In europe 1013 millibars)
Ie. FL290 would be 29,000ft, if the local pressure is 29,92in
Usually it is something else than exactly 29,000ft, depending on the local pressure that aircraft is travelling through.
Local pressure is used at lower altitudes, which is separated by transition altitude between the flight level and altitude.
In europe 5000ft (18,000ft in US and Canada) is often used as a transition altitude, meaning that theres no such altitude as 6000ft but instead FL060, however when air pressure is below 29.92in/1013 millibars the FL060 isn't used due to insufficient lateral separation (1000ft at all altitudes below FL410).
At 1009 millibars the lateral separation at FL060 to 5000ft would be only ~900ft, meaning the plane flying at FL060 would be actually flying 5,900ft from sea level.
In this case the next altitude from 5000ft would be FL070.

Nowadays planes can maintain altitude pretty well and due to increased volume of air traffic the CVSM has become insufficient.
Europe has used RVSM for quite long time now unlike the USA.
+-75ft derivation of armed altitude is allowed in RVSM. I don't remember what it is in CVSM.
For older planes RVSM means they cannot fly at or above  FL290 anymore, unless upgraded - which is expensive and often not worth it.
In CVSM and RVSM you've also had to use autopilot at or above FL290.
Quite likely the plane in question in this thread descended to FL280 due to having to fly manually - it's usually forbid to fly on autopilot with in-flight damage, regardless of the status of autopilot.

Different FL's are also used for different directions.
In RVSM it's simple: odd levels are for eastward traffic and even levels for westward traffic.
CVSM uses only odd levels: FL290 east - FL310 west - FL330 east - FL350 west.. and so on.

[hacksaw1]

A few years ago I saw a nature film that showed a high-flying formation of geese leaving very slight con-trails.

Best Regards.

Cement

[rabbidrabbit]

Originally posted by hacksaw1
A few years ago I saw a nature film that showed a high-flying formation of geese leaving very slight con-trails.

Best Regards.

Cement

They were farting?  That will keep those control surfaces warmed up.