Birds vs. B/Gs or RGs?
 

Hello All,

Although the following concerns B/Gs (boost-gliders) and RGs (rocket gliders), I'm posting it here because it involves them in unusual circumstances:

Have there been any cases of birds flying in formation with--or attacking--B/Gs and/or RGs in gliding flight? (Very fast birds, such as peregrine falcons, could conceivably even overtake large, "draggy" glide-recovery model rockets during powered flight.) I got to wondering about this after a Conscendo S electric R/C motorglider, which I recently bought as a gift for a friend and his young son in Texas, was downed by a buzzard. There have been numerous cases of birds "flocking" with (gulls often do this) or attacking R/C model airplanes and sailplanes. Also:

I thought you all might find this example of such avian behavior entertaining—a peregrine falcon tries and fails to down an R/C glider (the glider, a Dream-Flight Weasel-TREK http://dream-flight.com/collections...?q=RC%20Gliders, out-maneuvers the bird of prey), then the frustrated falcon lands on railroad tracks—just as a train is coming (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC-hc2eJqnw )! It ends with no harm to any of the parties involved, but the falcon (judging by its movements) appears to be perplexed as it departs the scene! :-)

Neat video!

Always wanted to try slope soaring.

Bob

Maybe someday I will find out.

I did have a slow-flying electric RC airplane (from which I was taking aerial still photos) once chased by an osprey whose nest was not too far from the parking lot I was flying out of. The airplane was very lightly built and I decided that perhaps I should let the bird chase it off and land rather than have it come fluttering down in bits of balsa and Solarfilm Lite......

I think any Falcon or Hawk could have taken down the R/C at any time. The video doesn't truly show the birds potential quick flight maneuvers. I believe the Falcon was just sizing the R/C up as it was in it's territory. I did not see where the Falcon actually drew down (extended legs and talons) at the R/C.
When the wings go up, and the legs come down, it is taking prey.

I have not had any issue with birds in any of my rc or rc rocket glider flights, I have had a few birds/falcons fly near my powered planes at times, but nothing agressive.

I do remember a glider at NARAM 19 getting knocked out of the air by a bird attacking it. I haven't een anything like it since...


John

Thank you. I have a few British RC soaring books, and they describe using a “bolster” (wind being deflected upward by a line of trees or a hedge, or by a seawall) for slope soaring where no actual hill is available. Dream-Flight’s Weasel-TREK is a dedicated slope glider; they told me that while it can soar in thermals, that’s not what it’s best at. (Both of their bird-inspired gliders are designed to easily be carried to remote flying sites by hikers, hence the “-TREK” in their names.) Their Alula-TREK (see: http://dream-flight.com/collections...?q=RC%20Gliders ) is a jack-of-all-trades glider that excels at thermal soaring, but it can slope soar as well, especially in lighter winds. It has also had run-ins with hawks (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3iRaAUH9PQ ), and it can fly in surprisingly small spaces. “AlulA-garden SAL” (one of a playlist of videos, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Ts...9E89A5A&index=2 ) shows a fellow discus-launching—and then catching, after flying it around his neighborhood—an Alula from/in his *very* small back yard, which is surrounded on all sides by close-in, mostly two-story houses and trees (him calling it a “garden,” plus the houses’ appearance, suggest that he is in the UK).You acted wisely, as discretion is the better part of valor here...lightly-built, slow-flying RC airplanes (including older-style, slow “floater” gliders) have come down in multiple pieces thanks to hawks, eagles, and even crows (who sometimes hang on with their talons to cause the models to crash). Searching for YouTube videos of such incidents will bring up plenty of “forensic evidence.”They can certainly fly much faster, more than enough to catch an RC glider if they choose (although a good RC pilot with fast reflexes—someone like the UK’s Ali Machinchy www.youtube.com/watch?v=orGca6G84U8 —could probably evade such an attack with a sudden maneuver). The Wikipedia article on the peregrine falcon says that one set a record for being the fastest animal by flying at—in a dive, I’d think, but maybe not—242 mph (that’s nearly 1/3 the speed of sound, Mach 0.318 [see: http://www.hochwarth.com/misc/AviationCalculator.html ])!Flying models near their nesting areas seems to elicit aggressive behavior, although if prey was very scarce, perhaps they might go after a model plane for that reason. (Even hummingbirds have been known to attack birds of prey many times their size, ramming them to knock the larger birds off balance; I’ve never heard of a hummingbird attacking an RC plane or glider this way, but I suppose it may have happened.)I wonder if the competitor got a “mulligan” flight, if it was DQ’ed, or if it had to count as an official flight...but whatever the final outcome was, that definitely fits into the “Don’t you hate it when *that* happens?!” category. :-)

I had a bird attack my quadcopter once. (From discussions on another site, it appears to be a not-so-uncommon occurrence.)

The bird hit the quad which then fell about 50 feet before it recovered. There was no damage or debris on the 'copter, so I don't think the bird was hurt.

-- Roger

Good--I wouldn't want a bird that went after any model of mine to come to harm. If they attack quadcopters more often than other models, I guess it's possible that the noise of the models' four (or more, with the "hexacopters" and "octacopters") electric motors agitates them.

-- Jason

NOT buying that a Hawk or Falcon could take down a highly aerobatic R/C in the hands of a skilled pilot. Propellers beat BIRDS every time. Not that I would do this, but feathers/flesh/bone is no match for a carbon-fibre prop spinning at 15K+ RPM. I have had wounds/sutures to prove it.