Sort-of memes that are cracking you up at the moment

Yeah but...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_strike

Particularly, the Canada goose has been ranked as the third most hazardous wildlife species to aircraft with approximately 240 goose-aircraft collisions in the United States each year. 80% of all bird strikes go unreported.[7]

Also

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/news/a25678/the-cost-of-new-fighters-keeps-going-up-up-up/

Probably a sensible thing to do to be honest.

So the response to risk of bird strike at whatever thousand feet is

*B*ack away
Maintainability direct *e*ye contact
Be *a*ssertive [not aggressive]
*K*eep calm [don’t run]

Fighter jets are pretty maneuverable these days.

No, but it’s not aimed at aircrew. It’s probably intended for ground personnel who get up close to wildlife at airfields because it’s their job to manage* bird activity, in order to reduce bird strikes.

(*scare/trap/blast with a shotgun)

That goose thing is taken from the web site of the University of Waterloo, which has a high goose population and has a goose for a mascot.

I suspect that its included in that Air Force presentation as a joke.

That university has a live goose tracker! https://goose-watch.uwaterloo.ca/

My thoughts exactly. My ex-FiL was in the USAF and served weapons/tac (think Goose from Top Gun) in Phantom F4s BITD. He did two full combat tours and birdstrike was one of the things that always terrified the flight crews. Canopy strike in particular as if it took out the pilot in front, he might or might not survive an ejection.

Did a lol.

Is there a possibility, however slight, that we're overthinking a meme about geese?

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A risk not accounted for in the documented procedure.

Honk!

Been spending way too much time reading up on bird strike.
Jesus Christ. Never would have thought this is such an issue!

How something like a bird can actually pierce an aeroplane like that is nuts, really

Alu skin on an airliner is pretty thin.

the birds are going pretty fast too, relatively

and they have pointy beaks.

Don't they lob frozen turkeys into engines at rolls royce to check that they can manage sucking in a bird in the air?

edit - it says that in the above wikipedia article so probably not new news to anyone then

Yes - I think so. A friend at school had an uncle that had been involved in the bird canon at some point in his career.

An old colleague of mine used to tell a story about being on a plane that hit a goose at cruising altitude and depressurised.

Sounded like one of the scariest things I have ever heard of. As a nervous flyer I don't like to think about sudden descents that feel like nose dives!

Sort-of-frozen turkeys that are cracking your windscreen at the moment

This is my favourite thread-derail in a long time!

I worked at RR briefly and was told a story about the manfuacturers of the ill-fated APT wanting to know how their train would fare against a bird-strike. They borrowed RR's canon and destroyed the windscreen, driver's cab and a good deal more. Story went that they'd not properly defrosted the chicken.

Internet has a few variations on that which makes you doubt the veracity. Am still inclined to believe what I was told in person over 20 years ago.

Don't they lob frozen turkeys into engines at rolls royce to check that they can manage sucking in a bird in the air?

Its quite astounding the safety procedures that go into planes. A former colleague used to burn test things for Airbus (and drop test military stuff) which meant analysing the ignition speed, heat, burn-speed and gases from the fire for lots of stuff in planes; not just seats etc but in-flight electronics, staff uniforms, etc. Between that and drop tests his job was basically to set fire to stuff and push stuff from various heights onto the ground. At 21 just having started a boring office job it sounded like a dream.

Internet has a few variations on that which makes you doubt the veracity. Am still inclined to believe what I was told in person over 20 years ago.

Variations of that story date back to 1986 at least: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/catapoultry/