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In a former life, I used to lecture
about the respiratory systems of birds, a pretty amazing subject,
actually. Yes, bar-headed geese do migrate across the Himalayas, and
numerous reports from both aircraft and climbers on the mountains have them
flying in the high twenties. When you consider that your non-turbo'ed
fire-breather is down to about a third of its sea-level hp at those flight
levels, it gives you some respect for those goofy-looking geese.
The one I like even better is
the (documented) report of a collision between a military jet (a fighter, don't
remember the model now) and a vulture, species not identifed, at
FL420! On this one, you have to assume that this bird caught a
thermal with about a 3g upward boost!
So . . . watch out at any
altitude.
Jim Cameron
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