The pilot stated that he and his friend, who is also a flight instructor, were performing touch-and-go landings at different airports around Greenville, North Carolina.
After his last touch-and-go, and during climb out, he saw some turkey buzzards flying above the American Legend AL3.
He decided to turn to the right to avoid the birds, but one of the buzzards hit the propeller and the airplane started to violently shake.
The flight instructor seated in the rear seat shut off the engine and took over control of the airplane. The flight instructor then located a field to land in.
They landed with a tailwind and during the landing roll, they were getting close to some trees at the end of the field.
The pilot was not sure if he depressed the brakes or the flight instructor did, or they both did, but the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted about 40 feet away from the trees, resulting in substantial damage to the rudder and wings.
Probable Cause: The airplane’s collision with a bird during initial climb, which resulted in a forced landing.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This November 2020 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.
Well, as it turns out it’s been said that one can turn a hybrid car into a power generator by running the engine and turning the motor to become a generator as it does in normal operation. Park the car outside the garage (please) and run an orange extension cord into the house to power critical infrastructure, such as the wide-screen TV on Super Bowl Sunday. Happy Thanksgiving!
Regards/J
Unless the hybrid or EV is already configured to supply 120 or 240 VAC….NO, not very easily or safely .!
Hybrid and EV batteries are 240 to 480 volts DC, so an inverter is needed to convert the DC to AC power.
If the vehicle is still under warranty, doing this will certainly void it….
A better solution is to use a gas or propane standby generator with an automatic transfer switch. These will start automatically and transfer the home main wiring to the generator, and then trasfered back to the grid when the power is restored. Systems can be bought for $3k- $4k…
Having read thousands of accident reports and seen the countless video reports with pilot-ATC recordings, it’s clear to me that aviation — GA and commercial — is critically vulnerable to external forces such as weather and birds. How charmingly primitive. Recalls the pic of the Wright Bros. in their bicycle shop. One fine day in the future airframes and control systems will evolve to mitigate these and other such factors. Unscreened jet air intakes and front-mounted propellors are a ‘duh’ moment. Wheel assemblies that collapse with a hard landing are pathetically under designed. A friend owned a ‘Skysmasher’ (Skymaster) with both front and rear props — a ‘pusher-puller.’ Birds don’t sneak up from the rear. Come on, aeronautical engineers! How about radically new designs that mitigate bird strikes, for cryin’ out loud! How about airfoil designs that don’t rely on critical settings of flaps when some poor pilot is wetting his pants trying to get that huge machine with hundreds of passengers safely on the ground to a full stop? Current designs belong in the same category as stick shift sedans and firewood for whole house heating. I’m an engineer (electrical) and have railed against primitive designs in communications equipment, so I’m not just throwing rocks at designers. Overcome the ‘we’ve always done it this way’ inertia and get with some new and SAFER designs. Wings up or down, tails and horizontal stabilizers up or level and other brand-distinct features are mere refinements to inherently defective designs from a safety and vulnerability standpoint. /JBP
That won’t solve the issue for the current fleet of planes. No one buys “new” planes anymore. There will be little, if any, market for those new designs. And the thousands that are flying today will still be flying another fifty years from now.
Except for the ones that go down after bird strikes.
Well… yes and no. From what I’ve read, the market for new GA planes is brisk. Yes, of course, older models are still around in in the air just as there are older cars on the road. I’m surprised at the pace of sales for electric vehicles (EV) despite the big issues with the electrical grid being able to support them all charging overnight. However, people still are buying them. Commercial planes are another matter. They don’t tend to last as long. Boeing’s new 737 Max line will yield to another model and another model, etc., et.al. The world rotates every day, lifespans come to an end and new life takes over from the old. New generations of aeronautical engineers will see the light and bring those new designs forth. It won’t always be two engines under the wings forever. Hope springs eternal! Happy Thanksgiving/J
Everything is a trade off….such as being aware when it’s migration season for birds without borders!…lol
PS; when are you designing affordable totally self contained independent electric generators for homes in high density urban areas?