U.S. military releases footage of jet striking bird and crashing
By Daniel Otis
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TORONTO (CTV Network) — The U.S. military has released dramatic cockpit footage of the moment a training jet collided with a bird and crashed in Texas.
Released a year after the Sept. 19, 2021 incident, the video was taken from a U.S. Navy T-45C Goshawk while an instructor and student approached a runway during routine training.
Suddenly, a large bird appears in view and strikes the aircraft.
As alarms sound in the background, someone in the cockpit can be heard saying “emergency, we are trying to get to the runway” before the plane dips and they declare, “we’re not going to make it; we’re going to eject.”
After they ejected, the plane plummeted into a suburban area in Lake Worth, Texas, damaging three homes. Although the aviators sustained injuries, there were no fatalities.
Similar incidents have also been recorded in Canada.
According to Transport Canada’s aviation incident database, a Canadian CF-18 fighter jet “reported a bird strike while landing on Runway 24” at Montréal–Mirabel International Airport on July 7, 2021. A bird strike was also likely to blame for a May 17, 2020 crash that killed a member of the Snowbirds team and injured a pilot.
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Sonja Puzic
