Uh- oh...

[beaky]

Territorial birds are hazardous enough when flying spam-cans... imagine facing angry eagles while suspended from a bit of nylon!!    :o

And wedge-tails, no less!! I wonder if Mace would deter them...




http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070202/od_ ... _eagles_dc

[Isak922]

Oh my... Seems the birds are getting revenge for all the little ones that get minced by plane engines  ;D

[beaky]

Oh my... Seems the birds are getting revenge for all the little ones that get minced by plane engines  ;D

Nah... theymost likely  think these rigs are big birds, cutting into their territory. They'll attack "proper" planes, too... I used to encounter a hawk near MMU that had apparently staked out part of the pattern as his hunting ground, or perhaps the family nest was below somewhere...
Anyway, like clockwork it would swoop down every time I was on base, veering away at the last instant.
And I'm sure each time, it thought :"Ha! He may be big but he's scared of me- look, he's gone over there to land!!"  

I guess these eagles got "medieval" on the paraglider because it loitered a bit too long in their airspace, and was going slowly enough for them to actually make contact relatively safely.

The comment about "little ones" reminds me of the time a swallow or some other fast-flying very small bird once zipped right across my plane's cowling as I was rotating for takeoff on the runway at 4N1... I don't think it actullally passed through the arc of the peopellor, but it was real close. Lucky little bird.

[RitterKreuz]

wow - interesting story.

[dcunning30]

[quote]Territorial birds are hazardous enough when flying spam-cans... imagine facing angry eagles while suspended from a bit of nylon!!

[Chris_F]

[quote]

After you barely escape the harrowing descent with your life, if it gets found out you maced the eagles, you get to go to jail for your troubles!

[beaky]

After you barely escape the harrowing descent with your life, if it gets found out you maced the eagles, you get to go to jail for your troubles!    8-)

Right.  Because (as we all know) avian life is far more valuable than human life.  If you're attacked by something endangered you just have to accept your fate.

I don't think anyone (even a government)would expect you to not resist an actual attack from an endangered animal... never heard of anyone being penalized for that.
And remember: simply yelling "It's comin' straight for us!" as you shoot it does not make it an attack...