Cessna 210 Centurion / Turbo Centurion 210C; 210D
Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 18; Flight Crew Total 2623; Flight Crew Type 1696
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Inflight Event / Encounter Bird / Animal
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition
Environment - Non Weather Related
About two minutes after departure westbound; struck Canadian geese. One goose came through the front windscreen. Pilot and right seat passenger were uninjured. Goose not so lucky. A hole of about two feet wide by one foot high was created in the windscreen. Pulled power back to 1;700 RPM and returned to land. Aircraft flew normally other than the wind noise and increased drag. Normal landing. Recited mentally aviate; navigate; communicate. In this instance I told myself mentally aviate; aviate; and aviate. I was close to my home field so navigation was a non issue. I relayed my situation over Unicom alerting other aircraft in the area as I needed priority for landing and certainly didn't want any aircraft to interfere with the landing. The last thing I wanted to do was go-around.
C210 pilot reports striking at least one Canadian goose at 1;700 feet after takeoff. The windscreen is badly damaged but neither front seat occupant is injured and the flight returns to the departure airport.