How Birds Can Down a Jet Airplane

pilot2pilot

Date: Friday, 01.16.2009, 2:59 PM | Message # 1

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Early reports suggest that a bird strike caused a jet plane to crash in the Hudson River near Manhattan today, leaving questions about how a little flying animal could down a big airliner.

More than 200 people have been killed worldwide as a result of wildlife strikes with aircraft since 1988, according to Bird Strike Committee USA, and more than 5,000 bird strikes were reported by the U.S. Air Force in 2007. Bird strikes, or the collision of an aircraft with an airborne bird, tend to happen when aircraft are close to the ground, which means just before landing or after take-off, when jet engines are turning at top speeds.

The incidents are serious particularly when the birds, usually gulls, raptors and geese, are sucked into a jet engine and strike an engine fan blade. That impact displaces the blade such that it strikes another blade and a cascade can occur, resulting in engine failure.

A 12-pound Canada goose striking an aircraft going 150 mph at lift-off generates the force of a 1,000-pound weight dropped from a height of 10 feet, according to Bird Strike Committee USA.

Today's incident, which occurred just after US Airways flight 1549 (an Airbus 320) had taken off with more than 150 passengers and crew

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pilot2pilot

Date: Monday, 01.19.2009, 4:04 AM | Message # 2

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Flight 1549 Crew: Birds Filled Windshield
The NTSB said over the weekend that the First Officer of US Airways flight 1549 clearly saw the formation of birds seconds before they were ingested in the Airbus A320's engines, causing immediate loss of thrust and an eventual ditching in the Hudson River. The NTSB said Saturday that interviews with Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger and First Officer Jeff Skiles revealed that Skiles had seen the birds approaching in perfect formation and made note it. An instant later, Sullenberger said the windshield was filled with big, dark-brown birds. "His instinct was to duck," the NTSB's Kitty Higgins told the Associated Press, in summarizing the crew interview. Skiles was flying the leg from LaGuardia to Charlotte on Thursday afternoon, but immediately after the bird strike, Sullenberger assumed control and began the sequence of events that ultimately resulted in a successful ditching in the Hudson with all occupants surviving. As the engines spooled back, the smell of burning birds and fuel filled the cabin air system.