1/3 Aviators love "there I was" stories, and everyone likes a good fish story, right? Here goes:

2/3 2003. Persian Gulf. K-Duck training. Basically, you fly the helo as close to the water as humanly possible, drop a raft, wait for the spec-ops dudes in back to jump out, and then fly up and away.

3/6 We are somewhere around 8ft from the water, when the aircraft seems to shudder and I hear "THUNK THUNK" from behind me. Compressor stall?? Emergency procedures are to immediately gain airspeed and altitude in case the engine fails.

4/6 The adrenaline ebbs a wee bit, and I realize my crewchief is laughing hysterically. "What's going on AW1?"

5/6 He comes forward, still laughing, and holds up a wriggling, if stunned, flying fish for me to see. "Jumped right in the cabin LT!"

6/6 So, apparently, we had flown right through a school of flying-fish, mid leap, and the THUNKs I heard were the idiot creatures hitting the aircraft.

And THAT is how I got to cross out "bird-strike" and fill out a report for a fish-strike to Maintenance control.