[dotancohen]

It should be noted that many species are occasionally hit at altitudes thought to be impossible for them to fly at.

One notable example: https://news.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/flying-fish/

[snowwrestler]

One of the best Far Side comics:

https://store.gocomics.com/product/the-far-side-comic-art-pr...

[marcosdumay]

Yeah, if I had to predict that kind of collision with fauna, I would fail.

[JoelMcCracken]

Given this happened 400 ft past the end of the runway, I really don’t think the altitude involved would be very surprising

[marcosdumay]

Well, the species in question tend to not veer much higher than the water level.

[JoelMcCracken]

https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/math/speed-distan...

180 mph taken from a bit of googling, ballpark figure on upper end.

So this was really immediately after takeoff. My understanding of commercial airliners is they usually fly fairly parallel with the ground just after takeoff to pick up speed before ascending, so I would guess they hadn’t much altitude at all.

Anyway it’s a very interesting article, ty to poster! And it was an interesting question to think about.