UFO sightings happen all the time all over the world. Depending on who you ask, stories of UFO encounters can be interesting, frighting, bizarre, or just plain nuts. Incidents that have taken place over the many Air Force bases in the United States, however, are some of the most intriguing on record.

Notably, unidentified and presumably intelligently controlled craft that can buzz military bases with impunity could certainly represent a direct risk to national security. Here are just ten of the best and most interesting UFO incidents to have taken place over various Air Force facilities around the US.

10 18 Silver Discs Hover Over Nellis AFB
October 1951

In October 1951, at a closed part of the Nevada desert reserved for nuclear testing named Yucca Flat, several military personnel witnessed 18 “silvery, rotating discs” hovering over the area for 15 minutes.^[1] As the incident was not reported or spoken about until 13 years later in 1964, some of the details are a little hazy.

For example, the date was somewhere between October 22 and October 30, with the time of the sighting being somewhere between 6:00 and 7:00 AM. A scheduled nuclear test was due to take place later than morning. However, approximately a quarter of an hour before the test was to begin, the triangular formation of the glittering objects appeared overhead.

Furthermore, one of the main witnesses, a 19-year-old known only as “Mr. M,” would also claim to have witnessed several “strange creatures” in the area at the same time as the sighting, which disappeared just as quickly. The hovering objects would remain in a tight formation throughout the incident, not making a sound of any kind before disappearing in a matter of seconds.

Nellis Air Force Base would have several other sightings over the years, with some taking place more recently. However, one of these stands out from the others and would unfold a little over a decade after the Yucca Flat incident.

9 UFO Crashes In Nellis AFB
April 1962

According to newspaper reports at the time and subsequent investigations by UFO organizations since, an otherworldly craft came crashing to the ground on the evening of April 18, 1962, within the grounds of Nellis Air Force Base, no less.^[2] It would come to light years later, when investigators pieced together several “different” UFO sightings that were, in fact, the same apparent object that would eventually crash-land.

It was spotted and monitored by various Air Force radars as it went over New York from the Atlantic before making its way west, with confirmed sightings over Kansas, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona before its flight finally came to an abrupt end. The Las Vegas Sun would report on the incident, using many local residents’ witness statements of a “weird unidentified object” that resulted in a “brilliant red explosion.”

When UFO investigators began examining such reports and declassified files, perhaps in particular the Project Blue Book reports, they discovered hints of a cover-up of the incident. For example, there was a record of an unidentified radar report which was then changed to being a case with “insufficient data.” What’s more, there was no reason stated for the change (as there should have been). Even more alarming was the fact that the records claimed there were “no visual” sightings, which, again, was clearly not the case.

By the time allegations of the Air Force scrambling jets in order to intercept and engage the strange craft surfaced, the incident took on a air of mystique that makes it one of the most intriguing apparent encounters in UFO history.

8UFO Deactivates Nukes At Malmstrom AFB
March 1967

What is perhaps most alarming about the Malmstrom UFO incident is the realization, at last in theory, that the power and intelligence behind the strange craft sighted apparently had the ability to disarm the United States military of its most potent weapons—arguably rendering it defenseless against such an intelligence should it prove hostile. And while that might seem outlandish to many of us today, that was not the case for many American citizens at the time, sandwiched between the ever-constant threat of the Cold War and these apparent visitors from another world.

On the morning of March 16, 1967, Captain Robert Salas received reports of a strange, glowing, red saucer-shaped object simply hovering above the Montana base. It would remain there for several minutes, with multiple military personnel viewing it. Then, as Salas watched helplessly, the ten nuclear missiles he was overseeing would go offline one by one.^[3] The object then vanished. The missiles, however, would remain offline for several hours before returning back to normal.

Many UFO researchers have suggested that this action was a display of superiority regarding the military’s nuclear weapons and their apparent ineffectiveness against such advanced intelligence. The incident remains unexplained.

7 Glowing Object Hovers Over Loring AFB
October 1975

A similar incident would take place on the evening of October 27, 1975, over the weapons storage facility at Loring Air Force Base in Maine.^[4] It was around 7:45 PM on the night in question when the glowing object was first observed by on-duty personnel. What is perhaps interesting about this is that the units were disguised and covered over. That the aerial anomaly “knew” weapons were there is perhaps a telling detail concerning its technical capability.

One of the witnesses, Danny Lewis, would later recall how it had a single red light and a separate white strobe light on its underside. The object circled the base several times before settling in over the weapons unit. In total, it remained visible over the base for around 40 minutes before eventually taking off and vanishing into the night sky.

The following evening, however, the strange object returned at almost the exact same time as the previous night. Once more, it would circle the base, as if surveying it, before settling into a hovering position over the weapons storage unit.

The base would remain on alert for several weeks following the incident, with several other sightings taking place as well. Then, they simply stopped as quickly as they had begun.

6 ‘Cat And Mouse’ UFO Chase Over Cannon AFB
January 1976

The incident over Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico on January 21, 1976, would not only stretch to a second night but was also witnessed by pure chance by a student journalist known only as “Bruce.”^[5]

On the evening in question, Bruce was working for a local radio station, performing tests on their transmitters. It was while he was at such a transmitter overlooking Cannon Air Force Base that he witnessed the bizarre scene. First, he noticed lights which he later described as looking like “light bulbs on a string.”

When he observed them through binoculars, however, the light bulbs were decidedly “saucer-shaped,” with a red glow emanating from their undersides. While one of the craft remained in position, the other two would suddenly swoop downward toward the ground. The objects then moved out over a nearby town. Bruce would note how, from his perspective overlooking the area, he could see the streetlights dimming in turn as the UFOs passed overhead.

The following evening, Bruce would purposely return to the area, only this time, he and several fellow journalists would position themselves on buildings with a view of the military base, the scene of the bizarre happenings the night before. Just before 1:00 AM, the glowing objects returned, and this time, there four of them. What’s more, within minutes, several military jets also arrived, immediately giving chase to the aerial anomalies. However, the intruders would always manage to evade the oncoming jets. This would continue for approximately 45 minutes before each of the objects simply disappeared vertically in a matter of seconds.

Interestingly, Freedom of Information Act requests would show that several F-111s were scrambled from Cannon AFB on the night in question. Perhaps more worrying, at least according to Bruce, is that he would receive some extremely disturbing warnings following his decision to speak publicly of the incident.

5 Red Object Over Ellsworth AFB
August 1953

On the evening of August 5, 1953, several residents in the town of Blackhawk, South Dakota, would witness and report a glowing red craft overhead, seemingly heading toward Ellsworth Air Force Base.^[6] What’s more, due to the environment of the Cold War, many of the witnesses were trained observers with the Ground Observer Corps.

The first account, for example, would come from such a volunteer observer, Mrs. Kellian, who would make a report directly to radar operators at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Not only did they have the object on their screens, but they sent several personnel outside to obtain visual confirmation (which they duly did).

A military aircraft already performing patrol duties was redirected to the area on an intercept mission. However, like many other similar cases, as soon as he began to get close to the UFO, it would move rapidly out of the way. After giving chase for several minutes, the jet returned to base. A second jet would scramble from the runway in an attempt to intercept but would ultimately prove unsuccessful.

The official conclusion of the United States Air Force was that the object was “unknown,” although no further (official) investigation took place. The case remains unexplained.

4 Alien Battle Over McChord AFB
October 1972

The alleged incidents that took place near Tacoma, Washington, in the skies around McChord Air Force Base remained largely buried away for almost three decades before a one-time government agent, Robert Collins, would finally reveal the account in 2001.

According to Collins’s account, on the afternoon of October 14, 1972, two US airmen, Steven Briggs and Dennis Hillsgeck, were at the Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) facility, which came under the care of the nearby McChord AFB. While performing their duties, they suddenly heard a high-pitched whining sound coming from outside the building. Upon stepping outside, they were confronted by a “saucer-shaped object” hovering overhead. Seconds later, the futuristic, shining craft began to descend to the ground.^[7]

The next thing the two men knew, two humanoid creatures had exited the craft and were seemingly headed for the building. They would urgently request backup, claiming that “intruders” were attempting to enter the facility. It would be a little over a quarter of an hour before another unit would arrive at the site. They would discover the two airmen confused and in a mild state of shock.

Not long after that, a security police officer, Sergeant Darren Alexander, was searching the area with a dog. He would not only witness the saucer-shaped craft but one of the apparent humanoid occupants on the ground as well. He would draw his revolver, and after seeing a strange device in the creature’s hand, he fired all six shots at almost point-blank range. In the chaos of the moment, the creature seemingly disappeared, leaving Sergeant Alexander quite confused.

The account is one that certainly divides opinion within the UFO community, with many perhaps understandably skeptical of the claims.

3 Abductee Crash-Lands At Edwards AFB
Summer 1971

If claims of alien abduction are just too unbelievable for some people to take seriously, then an abduction that results in a UFO crash at a military installation is perhaps even more unbelievable. However, one summer’s evening in 1971, or so the story goes, that is exactly what happened to a young woman eventually named as Lorraine Dvorak Cordini.^[8]

According to witnesses, the calm California night was suddenly disturbed by a sudden unearthly roar that ended in an equally frightening crashing sound. As people rushed out of their homes, a large cloud and evidence of flames was visible a short distance away, near Edwards Air Force Base. Even more bizarre, several people would claim to see “three grey humanoids” as well as a human female, herself wearing a strange, tight-fitting pink suit, among the ruins of a crashed vehicle of some sort.

Before anyone realized what was taking place, however, a legion of military trucks and other vehicles arrived and quickly sealed off the area. Furthermore, they would remove the wreckage and any sign of it, as well as taking the humanoids and the woman with them. Residents assumed they were taken to Edwards AFB.

The military would eventually claim that the downed craft was a military vehicle that had crash-landed. However, UFO researcher Albert Rosales would track down the mystery female, eventually revealing her identity as Lorraine (as mentioned above). What’s more, she would agree to undergo hypnotic regression in order to unlock the events of the night in question.

Lorraine claimed that after being abducted from her home and given the pink clothing to wear, she was taken to a larger ship in Earth’s orbit, where an examination took place. She was then placed in a smaller craft—the one that crashed—and sent back to Earth with several of the strange creatures. She would awaken in a military hangar. Even more bizarre, at least according to the hypnosis sessions, is that while here, she saw military personnel and strange large-headed creatures, different from the ones that had taken her from her room.

Needless to say, there are many who remain skeptical of the incident.

2 UFO Sighting Over Larson AFB
December 1952

While driving back toward Larson Air Force Base in Washington state on the evening of December 22, 1952, an off-duty technician witnessed a bizarre, vaguely hat-shaped object hovering over the base.^[9] He reported the object to his superiors and then continued on toward the base. However, shortly after, with the object now clearly visible through his windshield, he decided to pull the vehicle to the side of the road and exit it so that he could get a clearer, steadier view of the strange craft.

It would perform bizarre and breathtaking maneuvers, seemingly glowing brighter the faster it moved through the air. On occasion, the witness claimed to see the object “roll” in the air, apparently exposing an underside that had a red glow to it.

After several moments of these strange but impressive aerial movements, the UFO came to a stop and would hover for approximately a quarter of an hour. At that point, eager to get back to base and satisfied that nothing more of consequence would take place, the witness returned to his vehicle and set off once more.

1 UFO Incident Over Minot AFB
October 1968

Unusual UFO activity is particularly persistent over Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. However, the incident that perhaps sticks out the most took place a little after 2:00 AM on October 24, 1968. While acting as “aboveground security” for an operation taking place underground, a small military unit spotted a “large glowing object” hovering in the sky. A short while later, reports would come in from several locations around the base. And what’s more, they would continue to do so right through the night until the early hours of dawn.

At around 3:30 AM, a B-52 bomber witnessed the UFO from above.^[10] In later declassified documents, the operators of the B-52 described the craft as being like a “miniature sun placed on the ground.”

Although Project Blue Book would investigate the incident, by this stage in the program’s existence, any pretense of genuine investigation was largely gone. Needless to say, it remains unexplained and, for the most part, unacknowledged.

Incidentally, two years earlier, a very similar incident took place over Minot Air Force Base, at least according to an apparent whistle-blower named David Schindele. Like the aforementioned incident over Malmstrom in March 1967, all of the base’s nuclear weapons were deactivated. While the Air Force denied such an incident, newspaper reports at the time regularly reported UFO sightings in and around the base.

William Howard Hughes Jr. had a successful career in the Air Force in the 1980s. Already a captain by his early 30s, he was on the fast track to a stellar service career after he’d been with the outfit for much of his adult life. Known for hard work and dependability, he was being promoted steadily.

By 1983, he was assigned to Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While there, he had access to top-secret missile launch codes and warning systems information as part of a NATO program. He owned his own home in Albuquerque and lived alone. In July of that year, he was sent on a project in the Netherlands and ordered to return to base on August 1. He never reported back.

Hughes vanished into thin air, taking all his knowledge of classified and sensitive information with him. More than three decades later, he resurfaced. Here’s the crazy true story behind his disappearance.

Related: 10 Missing Persons Cases With Incredibly Odd Endings

10 Cold War Concerns

From the very beginning, Hughes’s disappearance was big news. The United States was in the midst of the Cold War with Russia at the time. Considering his classified knowledge of weapons systems, Hughes’s unknown whereabouts posed a national security risk. The threat of nuclear war with Russia and other hostile powers loomed large in that era.

So when Hughes seemingly vanished into thin air, the American government took action. They began looking into whether Hughes had defected to the Soviet power. When asked about the possibility of the captain defecting to Russia with state secrets, one Air Force official bluntly told a newspaper reporter, “that has to be an option.” ^[1]

9 Major Money Movement

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons 

After the Netherlands trip, Hughes failed to return to Kirtland at the beginning of August. Immediately, the Air Force began an investigation. Ten days later, they officially classified him as absent without leave. During their search, officials found Hughes had been seen withdrawing money from ATM locations in Albuquerque. In total, Hughes took out more than $28,000 in cash from 19 different ATMs around the city. His car was also found at the city’s airport. Officials began to suspect the obvious: he was fleeing from something. But when they searched his home, investigators found to-do lists written out and notes about books he intended to read upon his return.^[2]

8 Declared a Deserter

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Winter came with no sign of Hughes. Finally, on December 9, 1983, the Air Force declared him to be a deserter. The crime is serious: During war, it is punishable with execution. In peacetime, Hughes faced the threat of five years in prison. By January 1984, his absence caught the attention of national media. Hughes’s photo was published in newspapers around the country.

In addition, Air Force officials sent his information to police departments nationwide. The Pentagon confirmed publicly that a captain “with top secret access is missing under mysterious circumstances.” Even so, the government tried to downplay concerns Hughes was a spy or that he had defected. The FBI told media outlets, “there is no indication of espionage at this point.” Behind the scenes, officials scrambled to find him.^[3]

7 Hughes’s Sister Speaks Out

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Months after Hughes’s disappearance, his family began speaking out. His sister Christine was mortified by his absence, claiming it was “totally out of character for the Bill we knew.” Cryptically, she also told reporters that he was always careful about staying in close contact in his adult life, and “we do not feel he disappeared voluntarily.”

Police departments across the country began acting on tips. The Air Force conducted lengthy interviews with Hughes’s family, friends, and coworkers. Still, nothing came of the investigation. As Christmas came around more than a year after the captain had vanished, Christine again mourned the loss. “The holidays are the worst time,” she told a Seattle newspaper. “We make sure we’re together to try and help each other through.”^[4]

6 Secret Sabotage?

While the Air Force continued its search, Hughes’s story slipped off the front page. But it roared back several years later, in 1986. That year, Pentagon officials worried the missing captain was somehow sabotaging missile launches. The Los Angeles Times reported on a “bizarre pattern” of failed explorations and missile tests in the United States and France.

The list included the Challenger disaster, which killed all seven crew members upon launch. In the bombshell report, Hughes was named by officials as a sabotage suspect. One Pentagon source asserted there was “a clear link between Hughes and possible sabotage of the American and French launches.” Another insider claimed he was “worth his weight in gold to the Russians.” But the government still couldn’t find him.^[5]

5 The Cold War Cools Off

Whatever happened to Hughes, the end of the Cold War proved to cool concern over his disappearance. As the 1980s ended, the Russian threat began to wane. In 1991, the Soviet Union fell, and the unofficial Cold War essentially ended. Government officials leveled down their concern over certain missile secrets and stopped worrying openly about Russian spies and double agents. The focus on Hughes dropped in kind.

According to SFGate, William Howard Hughes’s name was not mentioned at all in press reports from 1987 to 2017. Still, that doesn’t mean Air Force officials weren’t still looking for him. And in 2018, in the most unexpected way, they finally came face to face with the man who had disappeared suddenly so many years before.^[6]

4 Finally Found—35 Years Later

In June 2018, agents with the U.S. Department of State traveled to Daly City, California, for an investigation. They questioned a man living there about inconsistencies with his passport. The man claimed to be Barry Timothy O’Beirne, but the agents couldn’t verify his identity. As they questioned him, the man cracked. Under investigation, he admitted that he was really William Howard Hughes.

Finally unmasked after decades in silence, Hughes confirmed he deserted the Air Force in 1983. He told the agents he had been “depressed” about his career. So he moved to California and created a new life. For 35 years, he went undetected. He even married a woman in the area, and they lived happily together. But the passport issue brought his secret life to a sudden end. The agents arrested the former captain and took him into custody “without incident.”^[7]

3 An Anonymous Life Upended

Hughes and his wife had spent their years in a two-bedroom townhouse in Daly City. The couple was liked by neighbors, who told media outlets they knew Hughes as “Tim.” One neighbor called him “very pleasant.” Another reported regularly seeing him at the local gym. Several neighbors reported “Tim” was a big baseball fan and always wore a San Francisco Giants hat on outings around town. Neighbors assumed he was retired.

As it turned out, Hughes worked as a consultant and actuary under his assumed identity for his post-Air Force life. One work colleague remembered him as “very smart” and “always joking.” Never did he cause trouble or draw attention to himself. Neighbors didn’t have any inkling about Hughes’s backstory until the media descended. “I guess you never know a person until you dig deep,” one local told a news outlet.^[8]

2 Consequences Finally Come

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Upon his arrest, Hughes was taken to Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California. There, investigators questioned him about his life and career. He insisted he was never a spy. Instead, he repeated claims about being “depressed” while working in the Air Force. Classified projects on missile capabilities and Soviet threats evidently took their toll on the former captain. Nevertheless, the military outfit prosecuted him for desertion.

In September 2018, he was found guilty of the charge and sentenced to spend 45 days in a military prison. A month later, he lost an appeal of the sentence and was ordered to serve his time. After facing the consequences of his 35-year-old actions, Hughes was dishonorably discharged from the service branch.^[9]

1 And Just Like That, He Vanished Again

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

After serving his time, Hughes disappeared once more. No longer wanted by the Air Force, he was free to go as he pleased, and he did so. His siblings, so concerned about Hughes’s fate after his disappearance back in 1983, never came forward publicly in the years after he was found. It is unknown if they have ever seen him since his reappearance.

In a sad twist, the woman he had been married to filed to annul their partnership two months after his arrest. It would seem he never told her of his real identity, and she couldn’t bear to live with his fake name following the discovery. As for Hughes, he has vanished again. SFGate reports that as of August 2022, his “current whereabouts are unknown.” The man who went missing from the Air Force in 1983 is lost in the wind once more—and this time, probably for good.^[10]

Since the very earliest days of aviation, birds have posed a threat to aircraft. The idea that a small, winged animal could bring down a massive plane seems surprising, but such accidents have caused numerous near-misses as well as devastating crashes and deaths.

In 1905, Wilbur Wright—one of the two famous pioneering aviator brothers—wrote in his journal, “Twice passed over fences into Bread’s cornfield. Chased flocks of birds on two rounds and killed one which fell on top of upper surface and after a time fell off when swinging a sharp curve.” The plane didn’t crash, and no people were injured, but that would soon change.
https://wrightstories.com/bird-strikes/

Here are ten of the most infamous bird-related air disasters

10 Miracle on the Hudson

The most famous bird-strike incident in recent years has to be US Airways flight 1549. Pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger was at the controls of the Airbus 320 when it took off from LaGuardia Airport on January 15, 2009. With five crew members and 150 passengers on board, the flight heading to Charlotte, North Carolina, should have been a routine one. But minutes after takeoff, the plane ran directly into a flock of Canadian geese.

The sometimes-migratory Canadian goose can be a large bird, with heights ranging from up to 48 inches (122 centimeters) and weights up to 24 pounds (11 kilograms). One large goose hitting a plane could be dangerous, but a whole flock of them was enough to damage both engines of the huge airliner. Unable to restart the engines, Captain Sullenberger made the decision to set the plane down on the Hudson River. And less than five minutes after the strike, he landed on the water, saving the lives of all 155 people aboard.

The air disaster captivated the world, and the story was eventually made into a major motion picture, Sully, starring Tom Hanks. ^[1]

9 Losing Three Engines

Unfortunately, the passengers and crew of Eastern Airlines flight 375 weren’t as lucky. On October 4, 1960, the Lockheed L188A Electra took off from Logan Airport. Within moments, the plane flew into a flock of starlings. Although starlings are fairly small birds, weighing in at only a mere 3.5 ounces (100 grams), they do flock in huge numbers, sometimes 100,000 birds at a time.

When the plane hit the flock, a number of birds were sucked into engines 1, 2, and 4. Then, with a sudden and disastrous loss of power, the plane rolled and plunged into Winthrop Bay. Sixty-two people died in the crash, and the airplane was completely destroyed. During the investigation, 75 starling carcasses were found on the runway.

Imagine such tiny birds causing the deadliest bird-strike airplane crash in history!^[2]

8 A Flock of Gulls

Captain Sullenberger wasn’t the only hero pilot who saved the lives of his passengers and crew after a bird strike. On August 15, 2019, a Ural Airlines Airbus A321 taking off from Moscow’s Zhukovsky Airport collided with a flock of gulls. The flight’s captain, Damir Yusupov, was able to land the plane in a nearby cornfield, saving the lives of everyone on board. Although there were a reported seventy injuries, only one was serious enough to require hospitalization. Yusupov was praised as a hero, and images of grateful survivors standing in a cornfield brought to mind the survivors of flight 1549 standing on the watery wings in the Hudson.

Because of the crash, officials investigated the presence of birds and discovered them flocking around two nearby illegal landfills.^[3]

7 Gear up for Landing

On Thursday, September 15, 1988, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-260 struck a flock of pigeons. When the plane was about 100 to 200 feet (30 to 60 meters) above the ground, it lost power, and the engines began backfiring. Able to gain some altitude, the pilot turned away from nearby Lake Tana to return to the runway. During the return, both engines failed. The captain still tried to perform a gear-up landing, but when the 737 touched down, it broke apart and erupted in fire.

Initial reports said 31 of the 102 people on board died in the crash but warned there could be more deaths as two people could not be found. The final death toll was put at 35.^[4]

6 Beware the Whistling Swans

Pigeons, starlings, gulls, and geese aren’t the only birds to have caused crashes. In 1962, it was a flock of swans. On Friday, November 23, 1962, a Vickers 745D Viscount airplane, United Airlines flight 297, took off from Newark, heading to Washington, D.C. During the flight, it ran into a flock of whistling swans. Although whistlers are typically the smallest type of swans, they do have an average weight of 16 pounds (7.25 kilograms)—enough to bring down a commercial airplane.

During the flight, at least two birds struck the plane, one of them hitting a stabilizer. The structure was so weakened that the plane became uncontrollable. It crashed to the ground from approximately 6,000 feet, killing all 17 people aboard.^[5]

5 The Birdman Meets His Fate

The very first recorded death caused by a bird strike occurred in 1912. Calbraith Perry Rodgers became the 49th licensed aviator in the world after practicing flight for only one month. Learning of a $50,000 prize being offered by publisher William Randolph Hearst to the first person to fly from coast to coast in under 30 days, Rodgers purchased a 35-horsepower Model EX biplane from the Wright Company.

From the start, Rodgers’s journey was fraught with problems. Being partially deaf, having no navigation tools, and flying a plane Oliver Wright claimed wasn’t up to the trip resulted in numerous hard landings, engine failures, and even crashes. Rodgers realized he would never be able to make the trip in 30 days but was determined to finish anyway, and on December 10, 1911, he did exactly that. His national celebrity didn’t last for long. Just a few months later, on April 3, 1912, while performing at an air show in California, his plane flew into a flock of birds and crashed before a crowd of hundreds. The popular aviator, interestingly called “The Birdman,” was killed on impact.^[6]

4# Thunderbirds Lose Support Crew

Created in 1953, The Thunderbirds precision flying group was formed as the U.S. Air Force’s official demonstration team. Their exciting performances still provide thrills to audiences worldwide. But in 1958, the USAF mourned the loss of some of their own.

On Thursday, October 9, 1958, a Fairchild C-123B Provider was carrying a team of supporters for the Thunderbird flyers when it flew into a formation of geese. The aircraft crashed near Payette, Idaho, killing all 19 aboard.

A monument to the crew still stands in Payette, and a ceremony was held in 2018 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the tragedy.^[7]

3 Cockpit Takeover

It isn’t just engines that can be damaged when planes and birds collide. Sometimes, an injury to the crew can have catastrophic consequences. On Wednesday, December 10, 1969, an Ilyushin IL-14P plane operated by Aeroflot/Georgia crashed about four minutes after takeoff. All 17 people aboard died in the crash, which occurred at about 1150 feet (350 meters) over the sea about 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers) from Makhachkala, Russia.

According to subsequent reports, the cause of the crash was said to be a collision between the plane and a large flock of birds that destroyed the cockpit, not the engine. The report also mentions possible injuries to the crew and the involuntary descent of the aircraft.^[8]

2 Geese Problems

Planes are not the only airborne vehicles affected by bird strikes. On November 19, 2017, air ambulance Bell 407 N620PA was downed when the helicopter collided with a flock of geese. The pilot and two others on board were killed in the crash near Stuttgart, Arkansas.

After the crash, twelve bags of feathers and bird remains were recovered from the crash site and examined by the Smithsonian Institute. Their investigation concluded the remains were snow geese. The white feathers of the geese were actually found embedded in the pilot’s clothing and boot.^[9]

1 Red Hawk Down

Sometimes, it doesn’t even take an entire flock to bring down an aircraft. The deadly crash of a Marine helicopter at Camp Pendleton in 2011 was surprisingly caused by one single bird.

On September 19, 2012, the AH-1W Cobra twin-engine attack helicopter collided with a red-tailed hawk, one of the largest birds in North America. Investigators say the female hawk, weighing about 3 pounds (1.4 kilograms), with up to a 4-foot (1.2-meter) wingspan, struck the helicopter. Within one minute of impact, the rotor and top of the transmission separated from the vehicle. The helicopter broke apart and crashed to the ground, killing both Marine pilots on board. The crash also caused a 120-acre brush fire that had to be put out by other planes and helicopters dumping tons of fire retardant in the area.^[10]