Bird strikes are a routine hazard in Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas in both spring and fall. I consider myself fortunate to have survived my birdstrike with a Canadian Goose. We knew it was a goose because after I landed we found bits and pieces of goose feathers stuck to the fuselage from the passenger door all the way back to the tail of the airplane. It was a dark moonless night, and I only hit one about 4 feet out on the leading edge of the wing in the C210. Canadian geese never fly alone though and I kept thinking to myself, "Where were his buddies?"
These two pilots really hit the jackpot. I don't know of any way this could have been avoided by them. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it happened after dark. According to these accounts, one of the two birds they struck hit the stabilator and bent it 90 degrees up... more than enough to make the airplane uncontrollable. At least it went quick for them.
About the only lesson to be learned from this is to go to the research that I think was published by the US Air Force. Their research indicated that about 70% of all bird strikes happen within 3000 feet AGL, so if you live along a flyway it behooves you to fly higher if you can. However, I personally have encountered flocks of Canadian geese as high as 8000 MSL in the Dakotas, and I have read accounts of them going into the flight levels during migration so there are no guarentees.
Also, most migratory ducks and geese travel at night. If you are out there, by all means turn on every landing light and strobe light you possibly can! It might save you. When bagged my goose I had my strobes on, but no landing lights. My employer strongly discouraged the use of landing lights in either day or night time, because the lights were only good for about 25hrs of operation before they burned out and he was trying to keep that expense down. Needless to say that I ignored his directive after that!
