SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) – A pilot working with a critical-care helicopter service in Iowa has returned to work after a bird crashed through the windshield and struck him in the head last month.
Troy McCormick, of Wings Air Rescue in Sioux City, told Nexstar’s KCAU that he was flying toward a hospital in Storm Lake on Nov. 23 when the incident took place.
“Just about that time, wham!” remembered McCormick of a waterfowl striking the helicopter. “The bird came through the windscreen and hit me right in the side of the head here … and then exploded all over in the inside of the aircraft.”
A fellow crew member quickly canceled their mission and diverted the helicopter to Storm Lake airport with McCormick dazed but uninjured, and covered in blood and feathers.
“[The bird] knocked me out for a little bit, I think,” he said. “I don’t remember some of the information about what all happened. I remembered [a fellow crew member] talking to me a little bit, telling me what we needed to do, and we did that. We were able to land at the airport safely.”
McCormick believes he was hit by a duck, but the details are fuzzy.
“This window [had a] great big hole in the middle of it,” McCormick said. “This aircraft was full of bird guts and feathers and broken glass.”
McCormick has been flying since 2001 and joined Wings Air Rescue roughly a year ago. He considers the incident a freak accident.
“It’s not very common,” McCormick said. “Now, we do have to look out for birds all of the time and we do dodge birds once in a while. We have had some hit glass, different parts of the aircraft, and have not had any issues.
“But to actually come through the windscreen, [I] never experienced that.”
Almost two weeks later, McCormick and his co-workers find the absurdity of the incident to be funny. But McCormick knows he’s lucky he wasn’t injured, or worse.
“I’m grateful, super thankful,” he said, “because it definitely could’ve ended differently. I see a lot of the hand of God in how things played out.”
Wednesday was McCormick’s first day back to work since the incident. He said he’s excited to be back in the sky continuing to save lives — and he hopes to avoid any birds.