[Propilot]

Its 10 hours into your 14 hour duty day (part 135) and after rotation you see what appears to be a small bird strike the left winglet of your king air. You dont hear or feel anything, but you can see blood streaking back....


You land, and after cleaning the winglet, there doesnt appear to be any damage. The airport crew shows you the dead bird they found near the runway and its indeed tiny, maybe the size of your fist.


You are 1000 miles away from base. You have 5 passengers on this leg.


You call dispatch and they patch you through to the on call mx guy. He says that as long as you think there isnt any damage, its your call.

The plane looks absolutely fine, no craks, the winglet is fine as far as you can tell.




Do you take off and go home, or do you insist on getting an A&P to inspect it. Can you legally determine the airwothiness of the plane after striking a bird? Do you need to demand that some sort of nondestructive testing be done before you fly it again? Does there need to be a logbook entry?


Oh...one more thing. There is an on field FSDO. its 3 pm on a tuesday. You have been to this FSDO for a checkride before, and you think you see one of the inspectors sitting inside the terminal, eating a bagel with his friend and watching you.


Discuss.