[Velveeta]

When the plane landed in Mumbai, the passengers saw a big dent underneath the cockpit. The dent was about 1.5 meters in diameter; one could see a hole and scratches on the hull of the plane's front.

Can a BIRD do this kind of damage?

[all4one]

We need to ping someone like Burbank Karl, he may know. But I would think that if a bird could do this type of damage....this would be a very common occurance.

I think that these are the same types of BIRDS/Squirrels, etc. that were being blamed for the power outages and downed lines that were occuring at airports, etc.

[SlowBoat407]

Sounds consistent with a "passive" impact (my term - not based on any engineering), I.E., impact with an object with a speed low enough to be considered negligable compared with forward speed of aircraft. Any kind of hard object such as a missile in flight might have done a lot more damage, even if it were a dud.

Experiments with frozen birds launched into aircraft structures have shown significant damage from hard impacts, but I don't know about the results of "soft" or thawed critters.

[Velveeta]

Karl,

Would you know if a bird can do this kind of damage to a plane?

[EternalHope]

Can a BIRD do this kind of damage?

Absolutely. (Don't think robins, think ducks, geese, etc.)

One of the B-52s in my unit was almost brought down this way. The bird came right through the cockpit window. Fortunately it went between the pilot and copilot and did not hit anybody.

They were on a low level training mission at the time, and could have easily lost enough control to have crashed (at that altitude, it would not take long...).

[mindspy]

Everyone knows that kind of damage is caused by "Gremlins."