Flair airlines ( Canada ) B737 Captain injured after Canada goose penetrates windshield.

Just a civilian pilot

Just a civilian pilot

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Feb 22, 2021
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A Flair Airlines Boeing 737-8 MAX, registration C-FLKO performing flight F8-641 from Toronto,ON to Winnipeg,MB (Canada), was climbing out of Toronto's runway 33L when the aircraft flew through a flock of geese. One of the birds impacted and penetrated the captain's windshield. The crew stopped the climb at 5000 feet and returned to Toronto for a safe landing on runway 33R about 30 minutes after departure.

Canada's TSB reported at least one of the geese impacted the windshield causing it to shatter and causing minor injuries to the pilot due to the shattered glass.



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Canada geese can be pretty brutal.

There was US Air 1549, although that took sucking in a lot of geese to snuff out both engines. And of course what happened to Fabio.

fabio-9f7bc23362664451b405db1f029da724.jpg
 
I posted it because I have never seen a bird go through a windshield before.

I am sure they saw it coming ( daylight ) but it would get the heart going if it happened at night with no warning.

Luckily they missed the engines and they were not above 250 knots ( speed limit below 10,000 ).
 
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oilboy123 said:
Wow, hope he did not get glass in his eye. I would be wearing safety glasses as a pilot. Fabio have a bird wack him?
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I don’t know a single pilot that wears safety glasses.

We also don’t wear polarized sunglasses, because that polarization can blank LCD displays.

If you look at the millions of flights that have happened since the last time a bird came through the windshield of an airplane, you would realize it’s incredibly unlikely.
 
I am not remotely concerned a large bird will go through my front windshield, but I do take the threat they pose to flight safety very seriously.

Although extremely rare, flying into a flock can cause engine failure or even unreliable airspeed problems.

A few years ago, one of our pilots had to throttle back one of the engines right after take off ( when they felt it was safe ) because of severe engine vibrations due to hitting large birds.

Speaking of sunglasses, I have never owned a pair.

https://avsn.co.uk/lufthansa-a319-100-diverts-to-munich-after-birdstrike-damage/
 
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Danno said:
More details at this link.
ATC/Pilots recording is very interesting.
Calm, controlled, professional is my take.

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/...injured-as-birdstrike-shatters-cockpit-window
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Yep, I've flown Flair and Swoop a few times now, and while they aren't the oldest crews, they seem very professional, and the aircraft are new and clean. Politer crew and passengers than air canada too! but don't fly overnight on those though, the seats do not recline much!

We had a chat with a young new pilot at Pearson when we happened to see a Qatar A380 taxiing before take off and I noticed him watching as well. He had never seen one take off before and wanted to see it for himself. He knew some of the specs and approximately how far it would take to get off the ground based on its destination and fuel load. They had to pause the regular pattern and use a longer runway going across, and it did use a lot of it before it lumbered into the sky.... Anyways seemed like a very competent fellow.
 
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