Posted for "John Hafen" <j.hafen@comcast.net>:

 When in doubt, PULL UP!
 
 Your body can sustain more positive G's than negative G's.  Red-outs suck.
 
 It would be better to have the bird collide with the underside of your craft
 than come through the glass into your face.  That sucks too.
 
 You would be surprised to see what a bird can do to an old Air Force F4-E at
 540kts.  It ain't pretty.  If you see it, pull up.  Then rely on fate to
 sort it all out.
 
 In the end we are all gonners anyway.  But my vote is to pull up.  Delay
 selling the farm for as long as possible.
 
 John Hafen
 

"""
 Hey Scott, I was talking to an old buddy of mine who learned to fly in
 Stearmans in the Air Corps during the big one. He says that they were taught
 to NOT take any evasive maneuver to avoid birds. The theory being that the
 bird was very probably going to do SOMETHING. If he did something and you
 did nothing, you'd miss. Otherwise, you'd have to outguess the bird and I
 ain't that smart.
 
 Chuck, I agree with your "useful time" statement. When we hit ours there was
 maybe 1/2 to 1 second to react...no more. Certainly not enough time to make
 any meaningful judgement call based on altitude, at least not in my minimal
 brain.
""""