Never good when a flying bird hits a flying bird.
A pilot in Brazil was forced to put his extensive training and expertise to the test when a vulture crashed into his single-engine plane while in flight. The aircraft was carrying five passengers to Eirunepé from Envira (in Brazil’s Amazonas region) when the buzzard smashed through the cockpit’s front window.
Footage from inside the cockpit shows a sizable vulture flying off in the distance. The aviator was only able to do so much to try and avoid the bird in mid-air, and was ultimately unable to do so. The plane struck the buzzard (or did the buzzard strike the plane?) head-on, and the large avian creature met its demise high in the sky.
After it slammed into the front glass and broke through the window – lifelessly hanging halfway inside and halfway outside the plane – it was the pilot’s job to make sure everyone aboard didn’t face a similar fate. The flyboy reportedly blamed the mid-air meeting with the vulture on the waste facility that’s located in close proximity to the airport:
“It was a close call! This is the fault of the rubbish dump next to the airport, which attracts an absurd number of vultures to the area.”
Regardless of who or what was to blame, the pilot was then tasked with landing the plane while a buzzard laid lifeless in the broken glass of the windshield. It appears that one of its wings became jammed inside the cockpit, thus keeping it in place even as high winds continued to hit it.
Fortunately for all of the passenger, the pilot kept his composure and touched the aircraft safely down at the Eirunepe airport. Miraculously, no one was injured during the incident. Well… besides the vulture.
Someone that was on board the scary flight from Envira to Eirunepé was quoted with saying that they were afraid for their life after the bird had smashed through the front glass of the cockpit:
“We thought we wouldn’t get out alive. It’s a miracle the pilot managed to land with that right in his face.”
It really is.
The whole, unfortunate incident was very bizarre in nature, and just goes to show that pilots often need to be prepared for anything and everything to happen. It’s not everyday that a vulture crashes through your window, but when that day does come, an experienced flier should do everything they can to make sure they don’t another vulture’s next meal.
Check it out:
Unreal. It’s still hard to believe that happened, even with the footage that’s become available. Shoutout to the pilot’s nerves of steel for staying calm and getting everyone in the plane safely back down to planet Earth.
The whole situation is very reminiscent of another close call with a bird busting the front glass of a plane that took place back in February. A crop duster in Ecuador had a condor smack right into his aircraft, and blood from the big ol’ bird splattered everywhere.
The video from that incident is even more unsettling:
