A goose at fl360????

[hollidayt]

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** Report created 11/4/2005 Record 3 **
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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

INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 0
# Crew: 4 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA
Activity: Business Phase: Cruise Operation: Air Carrier

Departed: LOUISVILLE, KT SDF Dep Date: Dep. Time:
Destination: SACRAMENTO, CA MHR Flt Plan: UNK Wx Briefing: U
Last Radio Cont: UNKN
Last Clearance: UNKN

FAA FSDO: DENVER, CO (NM03) Entry date: 11/04/2005

 

[Flying Illini]

The goose had a good tailwind and low fuel flows at that altitude.

Crew is all relaxed...drinking coffee, maybe having a snack, BSing about everything, enjoying the view and the sunshine...then WHAM!!! "OH crap!!" "WTF?!" coffee spilled, snacks strewn about. I probably would have wet myself on top of everything.

Glad it didn't go through the windshield.

 

[bafanguy]

I guess a goose has a different TUC than humans ??

 

[Lead Sled]

I've been goosed at FL360. Does that count? Seeing the part of the country it occurred in, my guess is was that goose was simply out getting some soaring time in and working the wave. Once I hit a duck at 14,000' in a Cessna 421 over Western Colorado, it broke the windshield.

'Sled

 

[KigAir]

That goose had one good set of lungs.

 

[FL000]

from Ducks Unlimited, Canada

Up, Up and Away

• Flying at higher altitudes makes for greater flying efficiency and less flying time. In fact, some migratory birds have been recorded at altitudes between 1.5 and six kilometres (5,000 to 20,000 feet).

and just for fun:

Here are some other interesting group names for birds:

• A "murder" of crows
• A "parliament" of owls
• A "tiding" or "charm" of magpies
• An "exaltation" of larks
• An "unkindness" of ravens

 

[av8er23]

Wow, I would have guessed that was impossible for a bird to fly that high.

 

[MD80DRVR]

I found this on another site:

"The bird that flies highest most regularly is the bar-headed goose Anser indicus, which travels directly over the Himalayas en route between its nesting grounds in Tibet and winter quarters in India. They are sometimes seen flying well above the peak of Mt. Everest at 29,035 ft. Birds have some natural advantages for getting oxygen at high altitudes, in particular an arrangement of air sacs that allows them to circulate inhaled air twice through the lungs with each breath--much more efficient than the in-and-out system used by mammals. Bar-headed geese have special adaptations that make them even better at high-flying than other birds. They have a special type of hemoglobin that absorbs oxygen very quickly at high altitudes, and their capillaries penetrate especially deep within their muscles to transfer oxygen to the muscle fibers.
Other high flying birds include whooper swans, once observed by a pilot at 27,000 feet over the Atlantic between Iceland and Europe, and bar-tailed godwits (a shorebird), which have been seen at almost 20,000 feet. The record for North America is a mallard duck that collided with an airplane at 21,000 feet above Elko, Nevada in July, 1963. Most birds, though, fly lower--waterfowl typically at between 200-4,000 feet, and small songbirds at between 500-2,000 feet. However, the tiny Blackpoll warbler will fly up to 16,000 feet high in order to catch favorable winds on migration between Canada and South America. I'm not sure how well a sparrow would do, but similar-sized birds are quite capable of flying very high indeed."

 

[moving2vegas]

Goose @ FL360= BS

 

[Lead Sled]

Goose @ FL360= BS

Dang right! Not one bird that I'm aware of has received RVSM certification, therefore they are limited to FL280 and below.

'Sled

 

[Corona]

Goose at FL360? Better believe it! Ducks can also go that high. It must be amazing to be hanging out in the wind in the flight levels (not to mention dam*ed cold!). Good thing they have goose down to keep themselves warm!

Another bird fact: Turkey vultures often fall asleep while soaring on thermals. Maybe that's why they are always the stupidest about getting out of our way, unlike the other birds.

Migratory birds can sense the Earth's magnetic field, and also navigate by stellar navigation (follow the stars and constellations and so forth). Over the last century, they have also become adept at recognizing the patterns of city lights. There've been studies on all of these; sorry, don't have the links right now.

Birds is the coolest people, IMO.

C

 

[Corona]

Dang right! Not one bird that I'm aware of has received RVSM certification, therefore they are limited to FL280 and below.

'Sled

LOL! I think they got grandfathered in!

Sidebar: Love the new avatar and signature...no chance of being banned now, eh? (Unless the mods hate Catholics...)

C

 

[moving2vegas]

I repeat Goose @ FL360= BS

http://www.birding.com/BirdRecords1.htm
highest flying bird: Ruppell's griffon vulture at 11,274 in (7 mi)

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/gwr5/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=51479

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/zoo00/zoo00388.htm

11. How high do they fly?
On daily feeding flights they usually fly from 100 to 1,000 feet depending on wind and disturbance from people. When migrating they fly much higher, finding an altitude with a wind that is going their direction. Geese have been seen as high as 9,000 feet.
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/horicon/wildlifegeese.html

Unless we have african vultures in CO, they hit something other than a bird. Sorry Corona....there are no geese (or ducks) at 36,000 ft.

 

[727gm]

I think that the Ruppell's griffon vulture reported altitude was 11,274 m, (metres), not 11,274 in (inches)

 

[moving2vegas]

727...good catch. I just cut and paste the info. Should've read it first I guess.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

What's worse than a goose at 360 is some idiot in a glider in Class A airspace on the RAMMS arrival. Perhaps the goose was caught in some updrafts relating to convective activity?

What I really want to know is the fully laden weight of a European swallow.

 

[GoingHot]

Migratory birds can sense the Earth's magnetic field, and also navigate by stellar navigation (follow the stars and constellations and so forth). C

And I thought they used GPS.

I guess that blows my argument about why they don't fly in the clouds, (VFR-Only GPS).

 

[moving2vegas]

Oh Dave I'm quite sure you know all about the swallow.

 

[Lead Sled]

What's worse than a goose at 360 is some idiot in a glider in Class A airspace on the RAMMS arrival. Perhaps the goose was caught in some updrafts relating to convective activity?

During the annual Monarch butterfy migration it's not uncommon to find them caught in thermals - I've had them splat on the windshield in the low teens.

'Sled

 

[727gm]

I was flying eastbound that night @ FL330 over Colorado, had only fairly strong mountain wave activity.