birdstrike accidents
 

How common are such cases, and how serious are they usually ?

A few weeks ago on a A330 on LH we got hit by birds just before takeoff in FRA. The plane must have been very close to take off speed, and we were pretty close to the end of the runaway when the plane came to stop.

Apparently a bird hat hit the left engine, which made a frightening noise. Fire engines showed up immediately and doused the engine with water, but the pilot said that no fire warning had come on. After maybe twenty minutes the plane rolled back to a parking position with only the right engine in operation, we left the plane through normal stairs and got bussed back to the terminal. The pilot confirmed that the engine was damaged and that we would have to wait for a replacement plane.

After all it was nothing too serious, but I can imagine that a birdstrike 3 seconds later, either when takeoff can not be aborted anymore, or at 100ft altitude can be more annoying.

I looked through the databases of the BFU and the NTSB, but found little reports about birdstrike (except the fatal crash of a Learjet in Milan earlier this year caused by a flock of birds after takeoff). Maybe 4 or 5 years ago I saw a severly damaged nose on a LH 737 in MAD, which was caused by birdstrike according to the station manager.

Surely there must be more incidents involving birds, or are they generally not reported?

Bird strikes are a lot more common than you might think, although only a small percentage do any damage, and actual accidents are really rare - I can think of fewer than half a dozen commercial incidents since 2000. Military fast jet incidents are a bit more common. Whether they get reported depends upon the practices of the country, and how conscientious the airline or airport staff are. All accidents (whether caused by birds or other causes) should be reported to ICAO - but not all are.

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Another possible one today:



NEW YORK -- An American Airlines Fokker 100 Luxury Jet taking off from La Guardia has reportedly made an emergency landing at Kennedy Airport after losing an engine.

Officials at American said the engine was damaged after the plane struck multiple geese on take off around 6:15 a.m.

Not to diminish or make light of the potential seriousness of a bird strike, but the press report http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif has to be questioned based upon this entry alone:

Bird strikes are a very common problem. Airport management goes to great lengths to try to discourage birds from being in the area but there's only so much that you can reasonably do.

Terminal information services that pilots hear before departing or arriving at an airport regularly have a "notice to airmen, birds on and in vicinity of the airport" advisory.

The real problem is if the bird strike causes an engine fire, which it generally doesn't. That said, it can often cause some minor damage and take a plane out of service for a while.

Source on this?

I wondered about that when I read one of the stories, that particular story didn't say it was a 34 passenger job or whatever it was, I thought, gee, I didn't know that American had any of those six passenger private jet type planes.

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I saw a show on TV a few months ago about a group of workers at DFW whose sole job every day was to go out and shoot loud guns in the vicinity of the airport.

After watching this, I took it that DFW must have a significant bird problem.

lots of airports have bird issues.. It's a common problem.

I saw them shoot at Bangkok Airport too, but with golfballs.

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