What Really Happens When Birds Fly Into A Plane Engine

Meet the US Navy's E-4B Mercury. Designed by Boeing, the plane is called the "doomsday plane" because it was designed to withstand a nuclear blast. Yes, not even a nuke can take this thing down. But there's one thing that can.

Birds.

In 2019, a Mercury almost went down when a bird knocked out one of its four engines, causing $2 million in damage. It was hardly a unique incident, though. According to the Navy Times, it was the fifth time in a decade that a Navy plane had been seriously damaged by a bird strike. And that's just the Navy: USA Today reported that in 2018, planes crashed into more than 40 birds per day, with LiveScience putting the human death toll at over 200 fatalities caused by mid-air bird strikes since 1988.

The rate of bird strikes also seems to be increasing, rising from less than 2,000 in 1990 to more than 14,000 in 2018. And it's bad enough when a bird strikes the outside of a plane - but what happens when a bird gets sucked into a plane engine?

Of course bird strikes have changed over time, mainly because airplane technology has changed.

In fact, the first recorded bird strike was actually intentional, as grisly as that sounds. The Wright Brothers famously built their first airplane in 1903, but it took them a while to perfect it. In 1905, though, they built their first truly practical airplane. And according to HistoryNet, it was that same year that they record in their diary an incident where Orville intentionally chased down a flock of birds and flew right into them, killing one bird.

Why exactly the Wright Brothers decided to murder a bird is unclear. But it wasn't long until the first human casualty happened: in 1912, aviation pioneer Cal Rodgers was killed when a seagull got caught in the plane's control cables. Unable to steer the plane, Rodgers crashed into the Pacific Ocean and was killed.

Today, though, a bird's capacity to cause widespread damage and loss of life is amplified many fold by the size and capacity of today's jetliners. According to LiveScience,

"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."

If that sounds like a lot, it is, especially since as of 2009, planes were only certified to withstand the impact of a four pound bird. That inherently spelled trouble for aircraft traveling in North America, where 36 bird species exceed four pounds. But instead of paying an overweight baggage fee, these plump fliers can and do destroy plane engines.

That's because the front portions of plane engines contain a bunch of compressor blades, which Purdue University professor of aviation technology Dale Oderman told Live Science are delicate and easily damaged.

There's some good news, though - good news borne out of arguably the most dangerous bird strike incident ever recorded: the infamous "Miracle on the Hudson."

When US Airways flight 1549 departed from LaGuardia Airport in January 2009, nobody on board expected their trip to turn into a future Tom Hanks film. But at 3,000 feet, the plane hit a flock of geese, knocking out both engines. Luckily, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger had the poise and piloting ability to somehow safely land the plane on the Hudson River. Miraculously, all 155 passengers made it out alive.

Since the incident, the FAA has moved to improve its voluntary reporting system. And other steps have been taken to minimize the need for future miracles. Airports upped their wildlife management game to lower the chances of a bird strike occurring during takeoff or landing; in New York, for instance, they try to keep birds at bay with tall grasses and a foul-tasting fungus. Regulations were also tightened, with the biggest planes now being certified to withstand a strike from an 8 pound bird, double the previous requirements. Furthermore, the fact that planes are painted white helps cut down on collisions at least somewhat because of increased visibility.

Still, the higher you get in the air, the less control man has over birds. And the busier the skies, the more likely collisions become. Still, despite a rise in the incidence of strikes, the number of those causing damage to planes has decreased thanks to improved safety measures.

#Airplanes #Flight #Birds

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