The TRUE king of the skies at Allen Middle School!

[earthsciteach]

The picture doesn't do this bird justice. This is a HUGE Red Tailed Hawk that nests on our school grounds where we fly. It hasn't harassed us lately, but every now and then it will come flying out of the trees with our planes in its sights. It really is an unnerving experience! One one hand, it could shred our foam airplanes to bits with no problem. On the other, and more worrisome, I would hate to have it hit a prop and be injured because I was flying for my entertainment.

When it comes after my plane, I head to the ground as fast as possible. Its intentions seem to be merely to protect its territory. As long as we defer to the hawk, it seems satisfied and goes about its business. I fully suspect that this spring, when the fledglings have hatched, there will be a Hobbyzone Champ massacre. Those small, bright orange airplanes, flown by 8th graders (who aren't know for good judgement), seem like easy hawk fodder!

 

[wadsie]

haha at the park i fly at there are these birds called plovers that attack you and the plane. and another bird that comes and swoops you are the magpies there quite anoying
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Magpie

 

[fwa2500]

we USED to have a red tail at my local airport (i worked line service) but he tried to fight our King Air when they were departing for Chicago one day....it didnt end well for him (the king air had some damage to the wing skin, i wont be posting those photos). he never bothered my planes, but he would keep an eye on them.

now, the swallows are a different story. buzz around the ramp in the evening after closing and a whole squadron of them would scramble to intercept my T-28.


teach, its awesome to know that there are still some places that still value flight in science class. when i was in middle school we built and launched our own model rockets, but last time i checked that has been discontinued on "safety" grounds...

 

[colorex]

Awww... That's sad. Such a beautiful bird.

 

[lobstermash]

In Canberra we have a lot of large birds of prey, and the magpie swooping season seems to go forever (especially for me, as I ride a bicycle to work). Whenever I go slope soaring I look out for a big eagle that hunts in that valley a lot. He's very shy though, so usually by the time I get a camera on the plane and put it up there he's discreetly disappeared.

I do enjoy magpie season though... I've mostly taken them on in less aerobatic birds (pardon the pun) like the Tuff Trainer, but I gave them a run for their money in my P51 occasionally... They got revenge on me after a repair saw the ailerons not quite being straight enough for the limits of the trim. I was flying to the left all the time. So I was going to bring it in and fix it up when a couple of magpies jumped on it. They hit it hard three times on the approach to landing and the plane stalled out and smashed up on the ground.

 

[earthsciteach]

fwa2500-That is a sad story. I don't think it ever occurs to those hawks that something may be bigger than them!
Kids actually do model rockets at our school in 6th grade near the end of the year in physical science class! Its a blast (pardon the pun) to go out and watch them. One of the kids in my RC club at school brings in model rockets every now and then. We fly our planes over the launch pad and dare him to hit us. He hasn't, yet. But he did hit the other teacher that runs the club with me today with his HZ Mini-Cub-nailed him right in the arm! LOL! The kid is a menace! I had to literally dive and roll out of the way last week when he was flying his PZ UM P-51 in the gym. He was doing great. Had the plane all the way up at the ceiling, rolled inverted and dove full throttle straight towards me! I got out of the way, but the floor did not. Broke his prop shaft.

lobster-Sounds like those Magpies are serious business!!!

 

[jetpackninja]

One of the guys we fly with here:

 

[earthsciteach]

That is an amazing video! I may have to build an Alula glider to see what our hawks do with it!

 

[jetpackninja]

The Alula is a great plane. I just don't like having to throw it back up into the air
I live within a few miles of some of the best sloping in North America, I guess I'm gonna have to start sloping...
The one in the vid has the feather designs put on it with sharpies.

 

[sandblaster]

Note to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, teach jetpackninja defensive maneuver, Alpa, Bravo, Delta.

 

[BigDon]

We have a few different Birds of Prey around where we fly...along with a general variety of other birds.

They sometimes come over for a look, but it seems to be little more than curiosity and we've never witnessed any intent to attack.

Will be interesting to see what reaction I get to my Funky Chicken when I get it built and my brother also has an EPP Eagle he's yet to build!!!

 

[bmsweb]

Wow that's an impressive video. We have a magpie that attack planes but not tri-copter . . . figure that one out. I have video of it attacking my son's kinetics but it was no where near as aggressive as that!

 

[jetpackninja]

We have a magpie that attack planes but not tri-copter . . . figure that one out.

Tricopter sounds like a herd of bumblebees.
I wouldn't attack one either

 

[Pilot-294]

bird in the video was a peregrine falcon, EXTREMELY rare bird!. at least its what i can tell from the image quality. not a red, and the eyes look like that of a peregrine. do be extremely careful, if a bird does attack your plane, DROP THE THROTTLE. any small cut on a hawk's delicate feet will most definitely mean death in the wild, as they become extremely susceptible to infections and will 98% of the time die...

 

[Brian fred carr]

Great footage I would agree with pilot-294 that it is a peregrine but i dont think there that rare over here!
where i fly down riverside seagulls are always checking my sky surfer out I think they want to lavish love
on it....keep flying

 

[themajik1]

The peregrine is protected here in the US. In Kansas City, we have nesting boxes on some of the taller buildings to help increase success in their breeding. They originally nested in the cliffs along the river and that is why they use the taller buildings. It is successful here and they prey on the pigeons. Cool stuff!

http://www.kcplkids.com/falcon4.htm