Kamikazi duck

[isham-research.freeserve.co.uk at pop.pol.net.uk]

> One of the ducks, evidently not yet properly rated for night flight, and
> evidently also overcome by the beauty and rhapsody of flight (which is fine
> - I've been flying for 25 years, and I still am) ran out of altitude,
> airspeed and ideas all at the same time, and came to grief smack (!) in the
> center of the driver's door on my 86 5KS. (Required Audi content, and the
> only reason this incident is reportable at all..)

Mine wasn't a duck - it was a swan bridge-hopping up the Main in
Frankfurt.  I was stationary in a traffic queue when the world went
dark and BANG simultaneously.

A swan coming up-river had lifted to clear the bridge and not noticed
the tram (streetcar) wires.  It hit them and lost all airspeed -
plummeting rather than stalling straight down onto my Passat.

Swans are heavy birds and do a lot of damage.  They also carry a lot
of ballast.

I reported it to the insurers with a big smirk.  They said it happened
all the time.

The swan survived.

--
 Phil Payne
 UK Audi quattro Owners Club
 http://www.isham-research.freeserve.co.uk/quattro
 Phone +44 7785 302803   Fax: +44 7785 309674