Speed is deceitful. We are so used to going at speeds of 60 kmph and greater that we simply fail to realize just how much energy is stored in a car, a plane or even a small animal like a bat. Cars can be totalled after hitting a deer!Hawkwings wrote:Ripped a wheel half-off? I find that pretty hard to believe, considering that the landing gear is supposed to be one of (if not the) strongest part of the airplane, and a bat weighs not that much.
A landing airplane would be going at around 110 kmph if Broomstick's estimate is correct, so a 1 kg bat would be hitting the plane with something like 800 joules of KE, or about equal to a .357 Magnum bullet!
Of course, a bat is not a bullet, but if the gear was deploying, it could easily destroy the wheel by the virtue of bending/ripping off something important, so that most of the damage would be done by the gear hydraulics.
