The Aviation Herald is reporting that a Virgin Australia aircraft in Australia hit one of the strangest things. It appears that during climb out from Melbourne, the Boeing 737 hit an Eagle carrying a Rabbit.
Engine issues occurred as a result and the aircraft returned safely to Melbourne. While hitting birds is not all that rare, colliding with one carrying a Rabbit is pretty unusual. It got me thinking about some of the other weird things aircraft have hit.
Is A Fish The Strangest Thing?
When you come across a story dated 1 April that mentions an aircraft being hit by a fish, you’d automatically assume it is an April Fools Day joke. After all, even a so called ‘flying fish’ doesn’t actually fly.
Hold your surprise though as this really did happen to an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-200 back in 1987. An Eagle holding a fish moved to avoid the aircraft and dropped its meal. The fish hit the eyebrow windows above the cockpit, luckily causing no damage.
USA Today report that a military jet also hit a fish in 2014. Once again a bird had its prey and dropped it when the aircraft approached, startling the bird.
Overall Thoughts
Once again, real life proves more outrageous than fiction. If anyone had told me that a fish hit an aircraft in flight, I would suspect that my leg was being pulled. It is just so improbable!
I’m surprised fish have been involved in two mid-air collisions as the chances of it happening must be astronomically high. I guess the Australian incident of the Eagle with the Rabbit is even more unusual.
Have you heard of any stories of aircraft hitting unusual objects while in flight? Let me know in the comments below. Thank you for reading!
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Featured image by Jeff Gilbert via Wikimedia Commons.
