quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Is there anything in that nose?

Radar

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
There I was....

at Angels 30, standing on the aft cargo ramp of a C-17, ready to spill a tub full of boiling water out the back on a dare, when a Boeing 757 pops up through the cloud deck below and at that moment, the tie-down straps let loose, and away went that tub...

Knowing I was in trouble, I broke out a signaling mirror and began scanning for an alien spaceship.

“A very monkulous fantasy.”

You speakee Latinee?

quote:

Originally posted by Sportshooter:
...

You speakee Latinee?

Matinee

My first thought:



Actually, my thinking is that another airliner, or most likely a private jet at FL350 to FL390 dropped a small chunk of blue ice that became a "Golden BB" that hit the aircraft.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_ice_(aviation)

Not sure about the player's source of information, but Delta is saying it was a bird strike during landing.

WKRP HALO live turkey drop.

Well it probably wasn’t a witch, they don’t fly that high.

quote:

Originally posted by Skull Leader:
Are those nose cones metal or fiberglass/some other material?

737 radomes are like a thin, lightweight composite (think fiberglass). I would imagine a 757 is the same.

With no blood or guts it wasn't a bird. I would vote large chunk of hail or something like that.

I agree.
No blood smear, no bird strike.

Blue Ice.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
What bird can flap it's way up to 30K'?

Vultures can do above 350. Cranes and geese 300. Swans above 250, and ducks above 200.

Generally a direct strike on a radome leaves evidence of what struck the radome, though. Embedded material, flesh, feathers, blood.

No doubt a bird could easily do that damage, though.

quote:

Originally posted by AirmanJeff:

With no blood or guts it wasn't a bird.

Not so. I've taken several bird strikes that did some significant damage that left no visible traces of the bird, and no blood. In one case it crushed the radome and broke one windshield in a Lear 35.

I've also had birds enter the cockpit or get wrapped around or stuffed in structures, with no doubt as to what was hit.

Lack of blood, feathers, or guts doesn't rule out a bird strike.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:

Lack of blood, feathers, or guts doesn't rule out a bird strike.

True dat. At an airline I once worked for, we had a crew who had the misfortune of disturbing a flock of starlings on the runway at Toronto Pearson. The airplane had over 300 golf ball shaped dents and divots, and nothing more than a greasy smear or two would have ever given away the fact that it was a bird strike event. When I saw the plane, I thought they had managed to fly through a thunderstorm and picked up hail.

Maybe a frozen turkey?

quote:

Originally posted by JJexp:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

On another site I saw speculation it was a drone operator, but the people couldn't explain how to get a drone operator to FL30.

Maybe the drone operator was also a high speed low drag HALO type? Apparently the record altitude for altitude for a free fall is over 132,000 feet and it took over two hours for the guy that did it to get there. He was lifted by a weather balloon. It only took him 15 minutes to get back.

That’d be Felix Baumgartner, who was replicating the original jump made by Joe Kittenger in the 60’s.

I think some Red Bull guy beat that back in 2014

Baumgartner was the Red Bull guy.

quote:

Originally posted by mr kablammo:
Maybe a frozen turkey?

As God as my witness...

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
What bird can flap it's way up to 30K'?

Not really a bird but.....

quote:

Originally posted by blueye:
Blue Ice.

So it was hit by an ICBM?

quote:

Originally posted by JJexp:

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:

Lack of blood, feathers, or guts doesn't rule out a bird strike.

True dat. At an airline I once worked for, we had a crew who had the misfortune of disturbing a flock of starlings on the runway at Toronto Pearson. The airplane had over 300 golf ball shaped dents and divots, and nothing more than a greasy smear or two would have ever given away the fact that it was a bird strike event. When I saw the plane, I thought they had managed to fly through a thunderstorm and picked up hail.

The radome in that pic is completely caved in. There's no way some type of blood or guts wouldn't have been in there.