Object hits A320 near Panama border

Here's one for the WTF file. LAN Columbia flight 4C3509 from Cancun to Bogota was flying at 35,000 feet, at 480 knots when an unknown object struck it. The crew ran a systems check and found no problems, so continued to Bogota.

The aircraft was traveling near waypoint KAKOL and the Rio Negro VOR near the Panama border region. Upon landing at Bogota, a 20 cm depression with an unknown substance was found on the left forward portion of the fuselage.

www.flightglobal.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

WTF is at 35k feet? AND preytell, what would they have hit at that speed that would not severely damage the lightweight fuselage?

I'm not saying it was alien, but... What was it really?

Are there any living organisms at 35K feet? I just can't imagine what it could have been. Unknown substance? Possibly some sort of frozen liquid that shattered when it hit the plane?

a reply to: ReadLeader

That's the question. The unknown substance has been sent to the lab. There are some birds that have gotten that high, but I think they're all in Africa or the Himalayan area. A bird at that speed should have left a hole. So it'll be interesting to see what it turns out to be.

a reply to: Eilasvaleleyn

There's a species of vulture that has been seen as high as 37,000 feet but they're in Africa. A balloon of some type with a payload?

a reply to: Zaphod58

I will be gosh darned.... they do exist @ 35k ft.

Barrheaded Geese

L I N K

a reply to: ReadLeader

The Ruppels Vulture reaches 37,000.

a reply to: Zaphod58

What the hell is a balloon doing that high, with a payload? If it was some poor lab's experiment, we probably would have known already.

I'm thinking some small ball of frozen liquid. Would that have put a hole in the plane?

Your link was messed up, by the way.

a reply to: Eilasvaleleyn

Yeah I just noticed the link. I'll fix it when I get on my laptop in a little while.

It may have been someone doing something with a balloon privately, for fun. That's about the only thing I can think of that would not put a hole in the aircraft.

a reply to: Zaphod58

So, something like a small helium balloon carrying a smaller balloon full of oil or something...?

Would a small piece of ice have also put a hole in the plane?

I'd ask if they were near any military testing facilities, but presumably they wouldn't have been allowed to fly over one to begin with.

a reply to: Zaphod58

But what would leave an "unknown substance" on an aircraft? A balloon would leave relatively common compounds, easily recognisable. The fabric of the canopy, the material of which the payload is constructed, perhaps some physical trace left behind by the gas within, but none of these substances would be difficult to identify upon inspection by a trained investigator.

What then, is the unknown substance, referred to in the article?

a reply to: Eilasvaleleyn

A piece of ice could do it. We used to get some pretty banged up jets back from rain and hail. It would be interesting to see how just one piece of ice was there though. Usually when ice is involved all the leading edges get pretty banged up.

a reply to: TrueBrit

That's why I said some kind of payload. Maybe to see if it freezes at high altitude or something.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Hmmm...

Yes, that might well be it. A scientific pursuit would explain the presence of unusual compounds much better than any of the other explanations for the presence of a balloon at that altitude. One assumes that the blow dealt to the craft, regardless of the object with which it collided potentially being a balloon of some sort, must have been a glancing blow, rather than a full on collision?

a reply to: TrueBrit

Probably. The bow wave would have pushed it if it was something light, like a balloon suspended payload, and then it could have swung back due to the airflow and hit.

a reply to: TrueBrit

But why would anyone pursuing a scientific line of thought use a balloon? Unless it was specifically to do with high-altitude conditions, surely any test could more efficiently be conducted at ground-level using machinery.

a reply to: Eilasvaleleyn

There have been quite a few people that have launched weather balloons for all kinds of reasons. Some just to say they did it, or to get a pretty picture.

Maybe the unknown substance was bird poop ! Lol....could it have been space junk re entering the atmosphere, and maybe some kind of an oil ?

Im putting my money on they hit a space jellyfish.

a reply to: Eilasvaleleyn

Although it is true that various pressure and temperature differentials can be recreated in a laboratory, not all laboratories have the necessary equipment, and not all researchers have access to a laboratory at all times. If this was independent, non-funded research, then it could be that the researcher was forced to use a balloon by the cost pressures involved with renting lab space.

It could also be that the experiment was designed to be run in as close to actual conditions as physically possible, and that the variables involved were more than the pressure and temperature of the tested substance or article, but also the actual altitude. Gravity is tricky stuff.