The issue I have with this isn't the slat itself, but that the plane took off with this entirely unmanaged. Tape is fine, even missing bolts are fine, this is not something that you're just allowed to ignore. Deferred maintenance is never a good idea.
I didn't see anything in the linked article about it looking like that before takeoff, though? I'm having a hard time believing that the pilot would just think "meh, it's fine" if it was discovered during the preflight walk-around.
Passengers on the flight said they heard and felt the vibration caused by turbulence immediately during the takeoff sequence, too soon for a bird strike. Bird strikes also don't usually look like this.
cw: animal death
They're usually either going to bounce off and leave a pink splatter or smear, or will be heavy enough that they caused more substantial damage at a single point, along with a red smear.
We can't rule out a bird strike without an investigation, but this doesn't seem likely to me.
The issue I have with this isn't the slat itself, but that the plane took off with this entirely unmanaged. Tape is fine, even missing bolts are fine, this is not something that you're just allowed to ignore. Deferred maintenance is never a good idea.
I didn't see anything in the linked article about it looking like that before takeoff, though? I'm having a hard time believing that the pilot would just think "meh, it's fine" if it was discovered during the preflight walk-around.
There is no way they took off with it looking like this. If you did it could cost you your license depending on the mood the local FAA office is in.
Do you think it was in flight damage like a minor birdstrike to the wing?
That doesn't actually appear to be what happened.
How can you tell?
Passengers on the flight said they heard and felt the vibration caused by turbulence immediately during the takeoff sequence, too soon for a bird strike. Bird strikes also don't usually look like this.
cw: animal death
They're usually either going to bounce off and leave a pink splatter or smear, or will be heavy enough that they caused more substantial damage at a single point, along with a red smear.
We can't rule out a bird strike without an investigation, but this doesn't seem likely to me.