Bird Strike on a spanish Eurofighter

[Rudel_chw]

During the Spanish Air Force's EUROFIGHTER Typhoon display held on June 15, 2025, off the beaches of San Javier and Santiago de la Rivera (Murcia), a bird struck just as it broke the sound barrier, forcing the pilot to end his display early.

 

 

[Hiob]

FFS, a bird to the face at Mach1. Bad day in the office! 

[Hiob]

50 minutes ago, Hiob said:

FFS, a bird to the face at Mach1. Bad day in the office! 

On second view, I don’t think it was a mach cone but just low pressure vapor from pulling. Nevertheless, still not fun.

[Rudel_chw]

47 minutes ago, Hiob said:

On second view, I don’t think it was a mach cone but just low pressure vapor from pulling. Nevertheless, still not fun.

 

I would have thought that the windshield should have cracked only, not outright penetration by the bird:

 

Bird Strike Resistance Design:

• Engine Cowlings:

  The Eurofighter's main engine cowlings, located above the cockpit, are designed to withstand bird impacts. The cowlings are typically constructed with composite materials, and testing has shown that carbon composite face sheets are more effective than hybrid glass/composite face sheets in resisting bird strikes, according to ScienceDirect.com.
• Canopy:

  The canopy, which is the transparent cover over the cockpit, is also designed to withstand bird impacts.
• Materials:

  The use of composite materials in these critical areas contributes to the aircraft's bird strike resistance. 

[Hiob]

Well, maybe it was an Anden Condor…… 

Do we no how the pilot got away?

[Rudel_chw]

7 minutes ago, Hiob said:

Do we no how the pilot got away?

 

The pilot interrupted the display immediately and limped back home with the broken windshield, landing safely a few minutes later (from this video):

 

https://youtu.be/1ynqWb450dw?si=l3fCBGgO4Q2cTXkU

 

[G.J.S]

Seen a few bird impacts, had 2 myself (one delaminated a radome, the other made a bit of a mess of a gear door retract mechanism).
Given the airspeed of the Spaniard, it sure had the ability to severely endanger the pilot where ejection may have been the only saving grace.

In some videos, it appears that the majority of the birds carcass bounced off the windshield as it shattered - what appears to be the body can be seen spiralling down behind the aircraft, along with some bits of windshield. The pilot would have certainly had a shotgun blast of windshield shrapnel to contend with though.

An emergency that was well dealt with in my opinion, climb away from crowd to evaluate any detrimental effects to control, then land.

Well done.

[MAXsenna]

Well, maybe it was an Anden Condor…… 
Do we no how the pilot got away?

Well, a crane downed a Norwegian F-16A back in the 80s.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk