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96which led to much family excitement that evening, as they had seen me waving with my bandaged hands!At the compulsory Friday late-night Beer Call the following evening, I was able to dine out on the tale and, as my hands were bandaged for some time, I did this for several more weeks! For obvious reasons, the Boss told me a number of times how glad he was that the outcome hadn't been any worse! My scars still remind me of those happy, heady days, now some 35 years ago %u2013 when, of course, I still had hair! I was told later that I had hit a buzzard-type bird. As such, I have always thought it fortunate that my eyes/face escaped the impact, and that the Pratt and Whitney J79 engine coped with the pieces of glass and bird parts which it had ingested, without any complaint. Perhaps it's not surprising that the aircraft took over 2 months to fix.1 MAYDAY: A transmission that indicates a life threatening emergency.2 TACEVAL: Tactical evaluation of NATO declared units by NATO staff.