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Yes, vultures can fly crazy high, and do a lot of damage to aircraft. They are a well-known nemesis of military planes, that fly faster and don't have redundan
by marcosdumay 1y ago
Yes, vultures can fly crazy high, and do a lot of damage to aircraft.
They are a well-known nemesis of military planes, that fly faster and don't have redundancy to survive a hit.
- dotancohen 1y agoIt should be noted that many species are occasionally hit at altitudes thought to be impossible for them to fly at. One notable example: https://news.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/flying-fish/ https://news.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/flying-fish/
- marcosdumay 1y agoYeah, if I had to predict that kind of collision with fauna, I would fail.
- JoelMcCracken 1y agoGiven this happened 400 ft past the end of the runway, I really don’t think the altitude involved would be very surprising
- marcosdumay 1y agoWell, the species in question tend to not veer much higher than the water level.
- JoelMcCracken 1y agohttps://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/math/speed-distance-time-calculator.php?given_data=ds_va_dt&ds=400&ds_units=foot&va=180&va_units=mile+per+hour&dt_units=second&given_data_last=ds_va_dt&action=solve https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/math/speed-distan... 180 mph taken from a bit of googling, ballpark figure on upper end. So this was really immediately after takeoff. My understanding of commercial airliners is they usually fly fairly parallel with the ground just after takeoff to pick up speed before ascending, so I would guess they hadn’t much altitude at all. Anyway it’s a very interesting article, ty to poster! And it was an interesting question to think about.
- snowwrestler 1y agoOne of the best Far Side comics: https://store.gocomics.com/product/the-far-side-comic-art-print-mountain-goat-in-cloud-bank/ https://store.gocomics.com/product/the-far-side-comic-art-pr...
- michaelcampbell 1y ago> They are a well-known nemesis of military planes, that fly faster and don't have redundancy to survive a hit. Wait, military aircraft have LESS redundancy to survive "hits" than civil?
- mynegation 1y agoCivil aircraft usually have at least two engines and military - usually one.
- lazide 1y agoHaha, no. Most military aircraft have multiple engines.
- topkai22 1y agoThat might be technically true, but the F35 and F16 are both single engine aircraft and IIRC constitute the bulk of at least the US air force’s combat aircraft.
- lazide 1y agoB2, F117, B52, P9, F22, F14, F18, C130, C17, C5, CH47, AH-64, SR71, U2, A10, and on and on just to give some recent examples. There are a few single engine aircraft roles (including the F104), but they are not and have never been the bulk of active serving aircraft. It isn’t just ‘technically’ true.
- mango7283 1y agoBe that as it may, the workhorse combat aircraft of most NATO air forces and the USAF itself is the F-16, a single-engine fighter, and its nominal replacement, the F-35 is also single engine. You can try to make your point by comparing those vs the numbers of F-15s, F/A-18s, F-Fs, Rafales, Eurofighters and so on in service vs the F-16 and F-35, but bringing C130s and C17s into it is irrelevant, those are not "combat aircraft". edit: ah but they are "military aircraft", sure. fine.
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y agoThat probably depends on the plane. The A-10 Warthog is known for being quite tough. It operates relatively slowly, at small-arms altitudes, so it can take a licking.