No wonder the bill was large.....
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23563691-2,00.html
F-111 almost downed - by a pelican
By James O'Loan and Alex Dickinson
April 19, 2008 04:46am
F-111 makes emergency landing after hitting pelican
Damage bill is hundreds of thousands of dollars
Accident happened above homes
AN F-111 was left "shredded" and incapacitated and was forced to make a
spectacular emergency landing after hitting a pelican.
The jet was flying at 900m on a test bombing raid at Evans Head, northern NSW,
when a pelican struck the fibreglass nose and was sucked into an engine.
The two RAAF crew are being hailed as heroes by their colleagues for their
skilful recovery and landing on April 11.
The damage, included a hole in one wing.
Aviation experts said flying the plane would have been extremely difficult
because the aircraft would have been unstable.
An RAAF spokesman admitted the 30-minute flight path back to the Amberley base,
50km west of Brisbane, was over built-up areas.
