On Jan 15, 5:32*pm, Shirl wrote:
Kingfish wrote:
CNN is reporting all 135 on board got off the plane (and didn't get
wet!) Apparently a flock of geese got in the way soon after takeoff,
and both engines sucked in birds. Damn the luck...

Depends how you choose to view it. I'd say their luck was pretty damn
good!

Once, at general aviation speeds, we saw a flock of what seemed to be
canada geese at constant bearing out our windscreen. Sailers say
"Constant bearing means collision". We saw them with enough seconds in
hand to reduce our rate of climb and got under them.

If one is carefully looking out the window of a jet like this, would
it be likely a flock (as opposed to a single bird) might be seen in
time to modify the climb angle? I'm guessing after rotation the crew's
attention is more inside the cockpit than outside, especially in the
controlled airspace around major airports. It would be an interesting
simulation in include flocks of geese near airports, wouldn't it?