DIRECT HIT: In this 2003 image, a crane collided head-on with a Blackhawk helicopter.
Image: COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
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The Best Science Writing Online 2012
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The heroics of US Airways Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and his Flight 1549 crew in ditching their bird-strike disabled Airbus A320 aircraft on in the Hudson River near New York Citybetween Manhattan and New Jersey are now legendary. But as the Federation Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulatory bodies examine the successful water landing and the role that a flock of Canadian geese played in shutting down both of the ill-fated jet's engines, a key question remains: Could the incident have been prevented?
"The windscreen was filled with birds," Sullenberger testified today before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's aviation subcommittee during a hearing on air safety, including whether pilots and flight attendants are properly trained to deal with such emergencies. (A summary of the panel's goals for the hearing can be read here.) "We saw them just a matter of seconds before impact."
On January 15, a gaggle of Canadian geese flew into Flight 1549's engines about 2,700 feet (823 800 meters) in the air just 90 seconds after the plane took off from New York City's LaGuardia Airport (en route to North Carolina). After the impact, Sullenberger said that he "began to feel abnormally rough vibrations from both engines" and soon after noticed "a burnt bird smell."
"I knew immediately," he said, "the situation was dire."
Unfortunately, wildlife is attracted to the relatively undisturbed buffer zones-—often wetlands with good nesting areas-—cleared between airports and residential areas, making overpopulation a problem for airports. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, there were 82,057 reported bird strikes between 1999 and 2007 (with 7,439 in 2007 alone). But the agency said that only about 20 percent of bird strikes against with civilian aircraft are actually reported.
Bird strikes are potentially deadly. Though all 155 passengers and crew on Flight 1549 survived, those on board a helicopter that crashed near Morgan City, La., en route to an oil platform on January 4 were not as fortunate. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported yesterday that investigators had found evidence that birds were involved in that incident in which eight of nine people aboard were killed.
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8 Comments
Add CommentWhy can't they install something like a cow-catcher (lighter material of course) to protect the engine intakes? I know it won't protect the entire aircraft but at least the engines would still work.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLet's not be unsympathetic about this. We've also got to be concerned about the risk to the birds. Just protecting the engines is but a partial solution.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo! Radar cannot keep birds from colliding with aircraft! That was a very unwise statement. Radar can probably keep aircraft from colliding with birds and then you do like MikeA said, put a cow catcher over the engines and a reflector shield in front of the aircraft. If the nose of the aircraft is pointed, the air will take the birds over and under the craft with little to no damage.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Captain; flock of seagulls coming into range."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Raise shields!"
Heard from outside: "and I ra-a-an! I ran so far awa-a-ay!"
"Arm phasers!"
They have whistles inaudible to humans that attach to your bumper to scare deer out of your way. Could they do something like that on aircraft?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOn further review, there is apparently no evidence of those deer whistles working at all. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean it couldn't work for birds. And even if it did work for deer it shouldn't be assumed it would work for birds.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"On January 15, a gaggle of Canadian geese flew into Flight 1549's engines"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf those da*n Canadians cant keep their geese in line we should go in there and do it for them.
This is evidence for more WMDs then Iraq had. They can at least bring down our planes.
And if Bush was in power he would have done it because a lot of US oil comes from Canada.
He would say "we have to bring democracy to their socialist regime... everyone should have the right to overpay for their medical bills."
A grill over the engine air intake would prevent engine failure when a bird/plane collision occurs . Most jet engines are designed to handle smaller birds without catastrophic failure. The grill could be designed to cut the big birds into pieces small enough to be handled by the engines. The grill will also prevent the engines from swallowing luggage carts on the ground.
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