Narrative:

Sixth instructional flight with this student pilot; practicing approaches to land without touchdown. After second approach and low pass down the runway without touchdown; the student applied power and climbed in the pattern. We turned downwind at 1;000 ft; but the student continued to climb to 1;200 ft. There were no other aircraft in the traffic pattern at this time. I pointed out the altitude and told student to descend to 1;000 ft. Another aircraft was entering the downwind on a 45 degree angle at 1;000 ft; and was going to be in conflict with us. I pointed out the other aircraft to the student pilot; and was about to instruct him to exit the pattern to avoid descending into the other aircraft when we struck a bird. There was a loud bang which caught me by surprise since I had not seen the bird. The impact was very pronounced; and my initial thought was that we had been hit by another aircraft. I said 'what was that?' and the student replied that we had hit a vulture. I took the controls and exited the pattern. Since we had a ballistic parachute recovery system on board; we climbed at low power to a parachute deployment height of 2;000 ft. I could see damage to the leading edge of the right wing; and it appeared to be minor. The plane flew normally; and did not exhibit a turn or control system abnormality. I made the decision to fly 12 NM back to our home base. We flew at 60 KTS (normal pattern and approach speed) to minimize wing loads. A normal landing was made by me; and we taxied to our hangar. Examination of the right wing showed a 14 inch long half-moon shaped crack in the leading edge; wrapping back on the top surface; with a couple of feathers sticking out of it. This was much more damage than I had been able to see from the cockpit. My attention had been on the possible conflict with the other aircraft; and the student's excessive altitude in the pattern. Both of these things prevented me from seeing and avoiding the bird. We fly in an area of intense vulture activity; and I had previously instructed the student to see and avoid birds. In the future; I will instruct students to be very proactive in avoiding birds; and make quick changes in the flight path in order to avoid a bird strike; especially if I do not appear to see the bird. Also; considering the amount of damage; I should have landed at the first airport.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A light plane instructor pilot reported hitting a bird that damaged his leading edge. He returned to base safely.

Narrative: Sixth instructional flight with this student pilot; practicing approaches to land without touchdown. After second approach and low pass down the runway without touchdown; the student applied power and climbed in the pattern. We turned downwind at 1;000 FT; but the student continued to climb to 1;200 FT. There were no other aircraft in the traffic pattern at this time. I pointed out the altitude and told student to descend to 1;000 FT. Another aircraft was entering the downwind on a 45 degree angle at 1;000 FT; and was going to be in conflict with us. I pointed out the other aircraft to the student pilot; and was about to instruct him to exit the pattern to avoid descending into the other aircraft when we struck a bird. There was a loud bang which caught me by surprise since I had not seen the bird. The impact was very pronounced; and my initial thought was that we had been hit by another aircraft. I said 'What was that?' and the student replied that we had hit a vulture. I took the controls and exited the pattern. Since we had a ballistic parachute recovery system on board; we climbed at low power to a parachute deployment height of 2;000 FT. I could see damage to the leading edge of the right wing; and it appeared to be minor. The plane flew normally; and did not exhibit a turn or control system abnormality. I made the decision to fly 12 NM back to our home base. We flew at 60 KTS (normal pattern and approach speed) to minimize wing loads. A normal landing was made by me; and we taxied to our hangar. Examination of the right wing showed a 14 inch long half-moon shaped crack in the leading edge; wrapping back on the top surface; with a couple of feathers sticking out of it. This was much more damage than I had been able to see from the cockpit. My attention had been on the possible conflict with the other aircraft; and the student's excessive altitude in the pattern. Both of these things prevented me from seeing and avoiding the bird. We fly in an area of intense vulture activity; and I had previously instructed the student to see and avoid birds. In the future; I will instruct students to be very proactive in avoiding birds; and make quick changes in the flight path in order to avoid a bird strike; especially if I do not appear to see the bird. Also; considering the amount of damage; I should have landed at the first airport.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.