The bird strikes are a common incident at Aerodromes with high density of bird movements, although not much can be done in the case of Bigger A/c to avoid the bird strike, because of a large mass and also the abrupt maneuver limitations due to higher weights being carried on board adding to that complexity is the Passenger comfort. The Bird strike usually occur at a maximum height of around 2000 feet, since mostly the birds fly well below these heights, the chances of Bird strike increases when the A/c is on approach at low throttle settings.
The Bird strike can also occur on a Take off run, but if a Pilot is really careful about the Runway clearance and keen for a watch on the birds on the Runway and Climb path on a clear day, he can request the ATC to take the action to clear the birds, and help himself as well as other fellow pilots from being subject to a incident to some extent.
The best avoidance procedure to avoid a Bird strike if possible of course is to maneuver the A/c in horizontal plane, and is a best maneuver if the bird is approaching from other angles than dead ahead, in that case, simply deviate further away from its relative angle to avoid the poor fellow.
In case the Bird is approaching from straight ahead and at approximately the same altitude, the best way to avoid the collision is to pull up, keeping in mind the Performance Limitations not to be exceeded, I guess a pull up of an angle at 10-15° in most cases will be sufficient to provide a clearance from the Bird.
I have been observing Birds for a while, since I am a regular feeder to the birds since I was 8 years old, as this is an tradition in our home started by my father around 45 years back, if you look closely, the birds Accelerate with their wings movement just for a small period of time, while flying also, except the very small birds with very low Aspect Ratio (Aspect Ratio=Span ÷ Chord), who have to constantly use their wings to Accelerate and produce Thrust, most of the Birds accelerate for a while and (we know when there is no Thrust e.g. Engine failed you can just Glide through the distance) Glide the remaining distance, which constantly causes it to descend.
They usually overshoot the approach to the landing point, since they don’t have means of adding instant power incase they undershoot the approach, just like we do in the case of a Propeller driven A/c on a steep descent below the ILS glide path to stabilize the approach.
So it can be assumed that the normal tendency of a Bird is to descend while in flight and if you have watch them carefully, you will notice that whenever they overshoot on the landing, which is almost always, they increase their descent by almost opening their wings as in the shape of 60° flaps, and increasing drag.
The best maneuver to avoid them in flight, what I have presumed is to pull the nose up, since the Birds always tends to go down, and I guess in the close proximity of the big machines like ours, their nerves would get freeze, so let’s not hope that the poor fellow can accelerate at that horrified time of its life, and can always be expected to initiate a steeper descent to get back to the safer ground.
So next time you see a small mate of ours at dead ahead position and at the same altitude, pull the nose of the A/c up within the specified limits of your a/c and file a Air Miss in your Personal Diary, and take responsibility, since it was entirely your fault,.
The Poor creature was probably flying as per her ATC instructions on the selected Radial following a SID or maybe flying an ILS approach to the seeds point thrown by the guys like me.
I have been thinking a lot about them since they are one of our mates in the air, and are supported by the same air like us and deserve their freedom of air as much as we do.