A Bald Eagle

[aviatoreb]

My son and I were at Rockland, ME yesterday, KRKD - and we were stunned to see a Bald Eagle in the pattern.  No kidding.  No joke, a Bald Eagle.  If it were a joke I would say it was doing touch and goes.  It was spiraling looking for prey, and hung out for a while and then left.  I tried to take some pictures but nothing came out.  Happily there was no incident.  Can you imagine hitting one of those - 7ft wingspan and 6kg.

[M20F]

2.1 meter wingspan and 6kg.

Fixed it for you :-)

[aviatoreb]

Fixed it for you :-)

 

Yeah - mixed units - bad form!!!  Thanks dude.

[MyNameIsNobody]

Scary, but pretty damn cool too! Bet he/she had their eagle eye on ya.

[Parker_Woodruff]

I had one trailing me on approach into Omaha once. Very cool.

[M016576]

We've got Eagles in our pattern all the time... A bit bigger though: 42' wingspan and ~40,000lbs...

[aviatoreb]

We've got Eagles in our pattern all the time... A bit bigger though: 42' wingspan and ~40,000lbs...

 

But are they bald?

[M016576]

But are they bald?

technically they have no hair... So yes...

[aviatoreb]

technically they have no hair... So yes...

 

OK!

[aviatoreb]

There was a species of Eagle that lived in New Zealand until about 20 years ago that had a 20ft wingspan and was capable of killing adult humans and carrying away toddler humans.  Can you imagine sharing the airspace with those bad boys? 

 

The FAA would probably have to mandate that they carry ADSB-out transponders.  I bet they would make a mandate to the department of interior that the department of interior agents would be required to catch all the Heist Eagles (I think that's their species name) and tag them and mount a certified adsb-out transponder.

[MyNameIsNobody]

I like the video of the raptors that pick up baby goats and drop them off the cliff for a nice meal. Some impressive video of them taking their prey. Nature, awesome, but not always rated G.

[gsxrpilot]

In Australia there are Wedge-Tailed Eagles that are actually a tad bigger than the Baldies here in the US. They are very territorial and I've been run off by one of them before while hang gliding. While soaring the hang glider, there's no sight quite like that of a Wedgie climbing to you in the same thermal. They are much better climbers and will climb right past you and then attack the glider from above.  I've never stayed around to get hit by one, but friends have. They say it feels like a body landing on the wing from above. While not dangerous from the standpoint of breaking the glider or making you crash, but it will put nice neat slices through the wing, taking a quick grand off the value of the glider.

[Robert C.]

Missed you by a week

 

We visited the weekend before for a "lobstah roll" at Hill's Seafood and a visit to the Farnsworth Museum and the Lobster Festival.

 

Fun town, airport and stunning Maine coast line of course.

 

Come visit Danbury (KDXR) if you feel like dodging Turkey Vultures on Short Final and take off, not as elegant but almost as large