Hitting something at FL350

Swampfox201

Swampfox201

Line Up and Wait
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Aug 24, 2010
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Todd W.
How often does this happen? What is there to hit this high?


http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=183791


LAN Airlines flight LA3509 sustained damage following an impact with an unknown object at FL350 in the Bogotá FIR.
The aircraft, an Airbus A320, departed Cancún Airport, Mexico at 21:18 hours UTC. The aircraft was en route at FL350 between the KAKOL waypoint and the RNG VOR when, at an airspeed of 480 kts, the aircraft impacted an object.
The crew checked the aircraft systems but did not notice any indications of a malfunction. They decided to continue the flight and landed safely at Bogotá at 00:13 UTC (19:13 LT).
During the inspection of the aircraft, the left front section of the aircraft showed a dent measuring 20 cm and there was a substance was observed that will be examined to determine its composition.



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N801BH said:
99.999% sure it was a B1RD.......
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A bird with an oxygen tank!! That would freak me out at that altitude, I've seen birds as high as 10K, but 350 is pretty high, I wonder what the bird's service ceiling is/was?? :D
 
When I was working in the little town of Swainsboro, GA, the airport mgr, a former FAA guy, sucked a bird into a king air engine at 20 something thousand feet. Don't remember the exact altitude...just that it was in the 20s.
 
99.999% sure it was not a bird.
 
Had to be one of those damned drones! :wink2:
 
Aliens...They were cloaked. That is why they didn't see them. Either that or Wonder Woman in her invisible jet. I bet she gets tagged in the rear in that thing all the time...
 
Hit the payload of a balloon? It will be interesting to see what the substance is they detected on the plane. They're analyzing it. Hope it's not coke... :lol:
 
Giraffe?

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Bill Jennings said:
What happens when a hunk big enough to dent the aircraft gets injested by an engine? Are there any instances of such a thing?
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well, not sure one would get injested by an engine, it's possible. Keep in mind that these things are moving *REALLY* fast.

The one I saw around FL200 sure woke me up.
 
RotorAndWing said:
18,000-84,000 meteorites impact the ground every year.
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Could have been a meteor, but apparently very unlikely:

An expert in the study of meteorites testified at the Safety Board's public hearing that no report exists of a meteorite ever having struck an airplane. He testified that, given the known frequency with which meteorites have struck cars and dwellings over the past several decades and based on a comparison of estimates of (1) the area of the earth's surface represented by cars and dwellings with (2) the area of the earth's surface represented by airplanes in the air at any given time, he calculated that a meteorite could be expected to strike an aircraft once every 59,000 to 77,000 years.
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http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR0003.pdf
 
Lindberg said:
Could have been a meteor, but apparently very unlikely:



http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR0003.pdf
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Perhaps. But how many strikes have happened and never been reported? It's like engine failures on twin engine aircraft, many have happened and never been reported because the plane returned to land.

A strike on an aircraft surface could happen, go unnoticed and then later be discovered during maintenance or a walk around. Could be chalked up to several other things. :dunno:
 
Lindberg said:
Could have been a meteor, but apparently very unlikely:
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"When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'

~Sherlock Holmes
 
RotorAndWing said:
Perhaps. But how many strikes have happened and never been reported?
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According to the experts, one every 59,000 to 77,000 years. Now, we all know that mathematical probabilities can't forecast actual events. But considering that we've only really been flying in any significant way for less than .2% of that time, I'm going to guess the answer is not more than one. Maybe this was that one.
 
jesse said:
well, not sure one would get injested by an engine, it's possible. Keep in mind that these things are moving *REALLY* fast.

The one I saw around FL200 sure woke me up.
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Yes, this. They are going really fast. They would go right through the airplane, not dent it and leave residue.

My money is on bird or balloon.
 
Lindberg said:
According to the experts, one every 59,000 to 77,000 years. Now, we all know that mathematical probabilities can't forecast actual events. But considering that we've only really been flying in any significant way for less than .2% of that time, I'm going to guess the answer is not more than one. Maybe this was that one.
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That statistic is meaningless. For it to be anywhere correct you would have to have the data for every vehicle that's ever flown.

Jesse had a close encounter. I can't say I've never hit one, but several of the jets I've flown had nicks and dings over them that were unexplained.
 
am I the only one that thinks stingray don is spot on with this one?
 
The highest-flying bird ever recorded was a Ruppell's griffon, a vulture with a wingspan of about 10 feet; on November 29, 1975, a Ruppell's griffon was sucked into a jet engine 37,900 feet above the Ivory Coast--more than a mile and a half higher than the summit of Mount Everest.

"Google search result"
 
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Looks like a blind date I had once.

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