Minnesota Pilot Injured As Wild Duck Smashes Into Helicopter

Scary news as a Minnesota State Patrol co-pilot has been injured due to a duck crashing through the windshield and hitting the co-pilot in the head.

According to a tweet from the State Patrol PIO, around 10:15 pm last night (May 19th), state patrol flight was requested to assist local law enforcement in Wabasha County. When the pilots were returning from the mission, a duck flew right through the windshield and struck one of the co-pilots in the head.

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Minnesota State Patrol public information officer (PIO) Lt. Gordon Shank tweeted out a few updates of the incident. He stated that "one of the pilots suffered a suspected head injury. The pilots were able to fly the helicopter to the St. Paul Airport after the incident. The pilot was provided medical assistance by troopers and EMS".

Lt. Shank also stated that the pilot was transported to Regions Hospital with non-life threatening injuries and has since been released. There was also damages to the Bell 407 helicopter, however the damages are still being assessed.

I could not imagine how scary that must have been. Luckily the pilots seem okay, however the duck did not make it.

This is not even close to the same thing, but I remember an incident when I used to work overnights about a decade ago. I was driving along a dark highway in the middle of winter at night. As I'm going about 60mph, a deer coming running from out of the ditch and shoulder checked my driver door. The deer bounced off and went back into the dark. My little Dodge Neon also did a bounce and almost went off the road. Luckily I didn't and just had a dent in the driver's side door.

Again, I'm glad everyone is okay and what a scary incident. Here's the tweet and some more pics of the shattered windshield below:

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