EC135 pilot struck in the face by birds after raising visor to lower nvg. Birds penetrated through w...

Attributes
ACN	980381
Time
Date	201111
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EC135
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Visual Approach Direct
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 6000 Flight Crew Type 2500
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Bird / Animal
Miss Distance	Horizontal 0 Vertical 0

Narrative:

Descending to a hospital; two birds came through the windshield and hit the pilot in the face. I had just lifted my visor to lower my goggles and look for wires around the hospital. I got hit without my facemask being down. Airspeed was about 90 KTS. I don't believe I passed out but there was certainly a time that I was not controlling the helicopter due to being stunned and clearing my eyes and throat. There is that time while switching to goggles where my eyes are not protected and also when wearing goggles. These goggles could easily get pushed into your eye sockets. I don't know of a way to protect the pilots face during this phase of flight. All lights were on; landing light; search light and even the devore lights. I do not have a solution; just thought it should be brought up.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EC135 pilot struck in the face by birds after raising visor to lower NVG. Birds penetrated through windscreen while helicopter was on approach to land at a hospital.

Narrative: Descending to a hospital; two birds came through the windshield and hit the pilot in the face. I had just lifted my visor to lower my goggles and look for wires around the hospital. I got hit without my facemask being down. Airspeed was about 90 KTS. I don't believe I passed out but there was certainly a time that I was not controlling the helicopter due to being stunned and clearing my eyes and throat. There is that time while switching to goggles where my eyes are not protected and also when wearing goggles. These goggles could easily get pushed into your eye sockets. I don't know of a way to protect the pilots face during this phase of flight. All lights were on; landing light; search light and even the DeVore lights. I do not have a solution; just thought it should be brought up.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

EC135 pilot struck in the face by birds after raising visor to lower nvg. Birds penetrated through windscreen while helicopter was on approach to land at a hospital.