I can attest to the damage a flying turkey can do to a vehicle. A few years ago one launched itself at my car from the side of the road in a perfect deflection shot and slammed into my driver side mirror, carrying it away in pieces. Had my side window not been rolled up, I probably would have been nailed, too.
Turkeys are said to be among the wiliest and most intelligent in the bird kingdom. Personally, I think they're a few feathers short of a headdress.
(Steve Grande himself posted this link on Facebook.)
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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Smart .... I think not !!! We have many wild turkeys in the very rural neighborhood where I live. Many times I have driven into my driveway and been confronted by several of them. If they are facing you they seem to feel threatened and go into attack mode. (It does not occur to them they can safely escape by simply going left or right). They can do a lot of damage to an automobile. I have learned to back out, retreat to a neighbors home and have a cup of coffee. Given time they do go on their way. (Full feathered and in possession of all body parts they are much larger than what appears on the Thanksgiving Table).
Posts: 460 | From: North Central CT | Registered: May 2004
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This kind of story reminds me of the time British Aerospace lent a chicken cannon to the French who were building their TGV (high speed train). The French wanted to be sure that the windshield would survive the impact of a bird strike. They loaded it up, fired, and: disaster! The windshield was gone and the remains of the chicken were embedded in the back of the cab? What could possibly have gone so wrong? The BAe bloke calmly asks the flustered French engineer, "You did thaw the bird first, didn't you?".
It's one of those stories which might or might not be true, and one can replace French/British with American/Canadian, etc, etc.
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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When I first heard this story years ago as a fledgling student pilot, it involved Boeing and Douglas Aircraft engineers.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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Having imagined Greyhound buses earlier, I'm now thinking of a certain episode of that 1970's sitcom 'WKRP in Cincinnati'!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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