In 96 I experienced a turkey vulture strike on the vertical fin of the BASA club SGS 1-34 N7632 (November 2000 Soaring cover), near the Truckee California airport. It was a windy blue day at Truckee, strong but ratty south wind. Went up to look for wave, which was found to be weak. Spotted the vulture in the next wave upwind, went to join it. We both climbed and it headed upwind to the next stronger wave. I followed, coming up to it from behind and just off it's right wingtip. I was marveling at how graceful and optimized that vulture was, when it cranked a sudden right 180.

The canopy was suddenly full of rapidly approaching black feathers. I ducked. It cleared the canopy and I thought "oh ****!" but then I felt a thud from the tail. "Oh ****!!" Was glad that I brought a chute and reviewed the bailout procedure before takeoff. Wasn't relishing the idea of bailing out over a heavily forested area, but was ready. Gingerly remained in the wave, trying to figure out if the elevators were still working. Called on radio, to see if anyone could do a flyby for damage inspection. Turns out nobody else went up that day.

After doing very gentle pitch/yaw tests for 30 minutes, decided I still had full control. Decided to land, uneventfully. Field mechanic ruled the glider to be in a non-airworthy condition. Big dent in the middle of the vertical fin leading edge, collapsed the aluminum D tube. Club had to pay $5K to Schweizer, to break out the jigs and make another.

Clear your turns!

Ken
N412BK