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Comment by nextworddev | Hacker News Reader

Maybe I’m missing something - how would pilots sitting inside the plane be incapacitated by birds on the outside

Someone not familiar with the front windshield of cars might think they go straight through. Don't think airplanes have any less strong windshields than cars.

A deep-frozen bird hitting the windshield straight on might be a problem but a live bird hitting at less than 45 degrees is not a problem for the plane or the pilots. The bird becomes red mist.

Depends on the size of the bird.

They can definitely go through plane windshields.

https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-f40a81ebb9201ba52c7e3...

I don't think you can directly compare the windshields on a plane like that with a 737NG.

Planes fly very fast

Commercial airliner windows are chemically strengthened and designed to withstand bird strikes, but it’s not impossible if you’re really unlucky.

See here for another plane with weaker glass: https://old.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/12iqve4/...

Ah thanks. But even then, there’s two pilots for redundancy, so it would take an extreme event that both pilots got knocked out..?

It won’t be this. People on that forum talk about hitting many more birds at much higher speeds with much less issues. The landing gear should have been deployed before the strike too? Happened at 200 meters I believe?

That was a light aircraft with a very different windscreen. The ones in airliners are very tough.

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