Forum: F-16 News

This is a discussion topic for the F-16.net news article: "Thunderbirds suffer minor bird-strike damage during air show". You can read the full forum discussion in the F-16.net forum.

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Hello all you F-16 Fans,

My name is Jim Seletyn and I was in Toledo, Ohio at an airshow where I saw the Thunderbirds perform.The weather was very overcast and the team flew a ''flat'' show.Also the #4 slot pilot flew the 2 seater F-16 in the show so now I know which aircraft ingested that bird in Wisconsin.

Hi all, I was at the air show in Rock County in Janesville. I am a close friend of the Thunderbirds and I was watching the show with Steve, #12, when the bird strike happened. In fact, I took a photo at that very moment. I believe that the strike hit number 2 and 3, not the slot number 4. There were many buzzards around the area that day and there were gunshots fired to try and scare them away. I am glad that none of the pilots were injured in this incident. They did fly a low show due to the inclement weather. The bird was not injested into the airceaft, only a strike occured. Cannot wait to see the team again...

I was at an air show in AZ where they had a birdstrike. As a crew chief on F-16s myself i can say that it isn't fun when that happens. Also I am friends with many of the team members. particularly the #1, 2, 6, and 7 crew chiefs. And haven't heard anything about any ingested birds although a lot of strikes have occurred this year

yeah, cleaning bird sh*t and guts outta/offa the airplane shouldnt be too much fun, neither should fixing what the bird did...

Cleaning up bird strikes is terrible, 78-0069 hit a flock of seagulls at the Sarasota, Fl airport. Must have been 30-40 of them, all hit the gear wells and aft . was at a landing aoa so none went down the intake. Pilot flew back to MacDill gear down so all the remains were air blasted and dried to everything. Between the smell and the grossness we managed not to barf. I hate Seagulls. Also had a transient F-111 take a bird thru the right hand windscreen, what a mess in the cockpit.