Reply to post: Re: Seen a wedgetail eagle lately ?

Huge FOUR-winged dino SPREAD LEGS to KILL – scientists

Denarius
Meh

Re: Seen a wedgetail eagle lately ?

car, shmar. chickenfeed. try hitting one with a plane, or worse, having one have a go at your plane. The loud bang was heard 3000 feet below and two miles away. Plane made it back OK but entire tailplane checked and horizontal stabiliser needed a rebuild. The characters who fly fabric planes have a well founded fear of Oz bird life. Fortunately the local ones around my airfield mostly ignore us when we use them as thermal markers. One nearly rammed me on an inland flight but literally grabbed air with wings and legs extended to brake before it stopped short of my starboard wing tip. I think we both were distracted by the flock of ibis thermalling ahead for different reasons. The one time I left helmet cam behind, mumble mutter. This supports idea that feathered legs have aerodynamic use, but I suspect mostly as airbrakes to allow speed control in swoop attacks.

As for car damage and off-topic, emus, the Oz version of flightless birds are regarded as much worse to hit than a big roo in the Oz NW and WA. Those skinny legs break and 50kg of annoyed bird arrives thru windscreen.

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