Not sketchy, but close to being my last plane ride. I was flying aerial waterfowl surveys with a TPWD pilot / warden (former military pilot) in the late 90's over Texas Coastal marsh. We were in one of the single prop 4-seat Cessna planes. I was looking out of the left window for ducks & geese and the other biologist was looking out of the right. It was a warm windy day so it was already a little rough in the plane.

All of the sudden the pilot dove hard. Our stomachs went to our throats and we felt and heard a big thud. The pilot said "damn it,... vultures usually go up." He looked out the window at the wing and said "time to take it down, looks like it is lunchtime". Neither of us had any appetite since we were barely holding breakfast down after the unexpected dive.

When we landed and could see the damage, it looked like a very big guy hit the wing as hard as they could with a softball bat. Thankfully it was close to the where the stabilizing brace connected between the wing and fuselage. The pilot said if it was a 2 feet closer to the cockpit it would have taken out the prop and if it was 2 feet farther out it would have likely caused enough damage he might not have enough been able to make it back to the airport. The thought of landing it in the marsh wasn't good since I also did alligator surveys in the area.

The FAA inspector wouldn't let the pilot take it back to Austin alone without being repaired in Beaumont.

Needless to say, I didn't look forward to the next set of surveys.

sts7049 said:

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maybe, but i'd never experienced that before. caught me off guard to look down a couple hundred feet off the ground and see the plane at an angle to the runway

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No maybe to it. You land with the plane headed as straight down the runway as possible. If you have a strong wind from say, the right side, you point the nose a little to the right. The plane is flying straight through the air mass, and in a straight line down the runway, but it looks like you're going sideways.

At the last minute, you use aileron and rudder to bring the orientation of the plane around to the track over the ground, so your landing gear is pointed straight down the runway.

At least one plane (C5-A) has gear that will rotate. So a C5 could land with the nose canted to the side, but rolling straight down the runway.

Think of it like a boat crossing a river. If you simply point your nose at the spot on the opposite bank, the current will sweep you downstream and you'll basically travel a looping path to the shore. If you angle the nose upstream, you'll travel straight across the river, but your path through the water mass will be at an angle to your direction of travel.

I wish I could find the article online, I read an account years ago of a buzzard strike on a small general aviation aircraft. It came through the windshield and ended up in the back seat, still alive, and very p!ssed off. The single pilot on board was unhurt.

I was telling my FIL about this thread and he had one that beats mine. He was working for an oil company in Libya before Gaddafi came into power. They were flying from Benghazi to Tripoli during a heavy thunderstorm in a twin engine turbo prop at night. Lightning hit the plane and all the electrical systems shut down, but the engines were still operable.

They had two Bulgarian pilots who were very experienced, but it got real rough and they couldn't see anything. There were 4 or 5 Arabs who alternated puking up middle eastern food and yelling prayers. The power at the airfield was also mostly out except for a few lights. They landed safely but he said he was surprised any of them made it.

Had an chance to fly on a baron with the lead pilot of a large cattle property in Australia and the property chief veterinarian. The pilot was apparently a legend of a bush pilot. Not really sketchy but after we get in the air the vet tells me the pilot had recently forgotten to lower the gear on landing and did a belly flop. Also before each landing we would have to radio down to the different property head quarters to clear the runways of cattle or horses. Before each takeoff we had to walk the runway and knock down all the termite mounds. During one such time I asked the pilot how much damage can one of these do to a plane. He said $26,965.23. I didn't ask anymore questions.