EXPENSIVE STRIKE

Single Seagull Inflicts Millions of Dollars in Damage on Fighter Jet

A photographer captured the bird busting the warplane’s canopy during an airshow.

A Eurofighter Typhoon warplane is apparently no match for the common seagull. Aviation photographer Javier Alonso de Medina Salguero shared photos of the moment a seagull busted the canopy of the $98 million jet just as it was reaching Mach One, around 767 miles per hour, at an airshow. Salguero was photographing the display at the San Javier Air Base at Santiago de la Ribera, Murcia, and didn’t realize that he had documented the explosive bird strike until the jet prematurely left the show and reported the incident over the radio. The Eurofighter Typhoon was part of the Spanish Air Force and was featured at the Aire25 International Air Festival in Spain on June 15. The pilot made an emergency landing at San Javier Airport and was fortunately uninjured. But repairing the aircraft canopy could cost millions of dollars, according to Simple Flying. The outlet reports that bird strikes can be extremely hazardous and that even a single small bird could significantly damage a fast-moving aircraft. Just this past December, a flock of migratory ducks downed a Jeju Air Flight 2216, killing 179 people.