BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: March 22, 2012 05:51PM
Awesome pilots. One thing I loved about being in Naval Aviation, I got to see a
lot of cool airshows.
quasi Report This Comment Date: March 22, 2012 06:53PM
It's an awesome show and they make several passes right over the house when
they're here - the airport where they have the Florida International Airshow is
only two miles away. I always wonder though - there are always a lot of turkey
buzzards gliding around up there so what happens if an F-18 hits one at 300
knots? Makes me wish they'd have the show someplace else. That lightpole is
literally right at the end of the driveway, thirty feet from the house.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 22/03/2012 06:54PM by quasi.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: March 22, 2012 07:09PM
Hitting a bird at that speed is certainly disastrous, especially for the bird.
There are accounts of aircraft colliding with birds and it usually doesn't fare
too well for the plane either, especially if it was a jet and a bird goes into
the air intake. The engine is destroyed and that's about the time the crew bails
out because pieces of what used to be a jet engine are ripping though the
aircraft like shrapnel. Not a good thing at all. Fortunately for aviators it is
not that common an occurrence.
I've heard the birds you refer to called a few variations like turkey vultures,
chicken hawks, turkey hawks and chicken buzzards and just plain hawks or
buzzards. They are raptors but also scavengers and I think they're all the same
basic bird type but some people will argue to great lengths to say otherwise.
quasi Report This Comment Date: March 22, 2012 07:28PM
Around here they're turkey vultures, turkey buzzards, or, usually, just plain
buzzards. I did have one idiot one time want to argue with me that one of 'em
was an eagle.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: March 22, 2012 07:34PM
Well as you said, he is an idiot.