Can Birds Really Make a Plane Crash?

A few days ago a Jet2 flight LS804 Boeing B737 inbound for landing from Barcelona to Manchester in the UK hit a bird on the approach and ended up sucking it into one of the planes engines, causing it to malfunction.

Everyone on board had to adopt the brace position and people were heard crying, as even cabin crew admitted they had no idea what was wrong with the plane.

As the plane descended the passengers could hear a banging noise, not like an explosion, but a repetitive noise, and saw a popping flame out of the left wing.  

The pilots executed a standard procedure, called a go around, where the plane circles back round and comes in again to land. It landed and then it was escorted back by the fire crew and passengers were helped to safety. 

Eyewitnesses on the ground saw the plane giving off flames and spewing smoke, while making a 'horrendous' popping sound which could be heard for miles around. 

Many of the passengers were terrified and even declared they will never fly again.

Is a bird-strike really dangerous for an aircraft?

Bird Strike is common and can be a significant threat to aircraft safety and I have had my fair share during my career flying both flying larger airliners  and the smaller private jets. For smaller aircraft, significant damage may be caused to the aircraft structure and all aircraft, especially jet-engined ones, are vulnerable to the loss of thrust which can follow the ingestion of birds into engine air intakes. This has resulted in a number of fatal accidents.

Bird strikes may occur during any phase of flight but are most likely during the take-off, initial climb, approach and landing phases due to the greater numbers of birds in flight at lower levels. Since most birds fly mainly during the day, most bird strikes occur in daylight hours as well. However, I did hit a rather large owl once at night, just above my windscreen. The only damage to the plane was a large dent just above the cockpit window.

The nature of aircraft damage caused by bird strikes, which is significant enough to create a high risk to continued safe flight, differs according to the size of aircraft. Small, propeller-driven aircraft are most likely to experience the hazardous effects of strikes as structural damage, such as the penetration of flight deck windscreens or damage to control surfaces or the empennage. Larger jet-engined aircraft are most likely to experience the hazardous effects of strikes as the consequences of engine ingestion. Partial or complete loss of control may be the secondary result of either small aircraft structural impact or large aircraft jet engine ingestion. Loss of flight instrument function can be caused by impact effects on the Pitot Static System air intakes which can cause dependent instrument readings to become erroneous.

Complete Engine failure or serious power loss, even on only one engine, may be critical during the take-off phase for aircraft. In the case of bird ingestion into more than one engine, all aircraft are vulnerable to loss of control. Such hazardous ingestion is infrequent but may result from the penetration of a large flock of medium sized birds or an encounter with a smaller number of very large ones.

The opportunities to reduce the risk of hazardous bird strikes in the first place are focused on airports, because this is where the greatest overall volume of conflict occurs, and because this is where management and control of the hazard is most easily achieved. However, there are two problems with this approach:

• The airport-centred bird strike risk is rarely confined to the perimeter of any particular airport
• Many of the most hazardous strike encounters - those with large flocking birds - take place so far from the airport that the airport operating authority will often have little real influence over the circumstances.

What Causes Bird Strikes?

The habitat features around an airport, including open areas of grass and water as well as shrubs and trees, all things birds are attracted to. Even large puddles of water on uneven pavements can be a significant bird attractant. Some types of farming activity, on or in the vicinity of an airport, may attract birds. Migrating birds often follow well-defined flight paths in considerable numbers. This can create a hazard if the flight paths are near an airport. Also airports in coastal locations often have a much higher level of un-managed bird activity than inland airports. Most airports contain considerable areas of grass within their perimeters. Since even dry grass can be attractive as a loitering area for birds by day or night, appropriate grass management policies, especially keeping the grass high can help reduce bird activity.

 What can be Done to Avoid/Minimize this Risk?

Airports have initiatives that are commonly known as bird management or bird control. Areas around the aerodrome are made as unappealing as possible to birds. Also, devices are used to scare off birds - sounds, lights, decoy animals, and dogs are a few examples.

Do Birdstrikes cause many aircraft accidents?

You hear of aircraft crashing and birds playing a role in the accident. In June 2003 a Learjet 45, I-ERJC, owned and operated by Eurojet Italia, crashed into a warehouse near a road on the outskirts of Milan after hitting birds and trying to return to land. The aircraft had just departed from Milano-Linate Airport (LIN) destined for Genoa-Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA), Italy. Both pilots, the only occupants of the aircraft, were killed. While birds were ingested in one engine on take-off the co-pilot closed the thrust lever on the wrong engine, causing the crash. In a later investigation it turns out the co-pilot had not received proper training to fly the Lear 45 and was also just out of flight school.

The number of major accidents involving civil aircraft is quite low and it has been estimated that there is only about 1 accident resulting in human death in one billion (109) flying hours. The majority of bird strikes (65%) cause little damage to the aircraft; however the collision is usually fatal to the bird(s) involved.

Most accidents occur when there is a collision involving a bird (or birds) and the windscreen or a bird (or birds) is sucked into the engines of mechanical air craft. These cause annual damages that have been estimated at $400 million within the United States of America alone and up to $1.2 billion to commercial aircraft worldwide. In addition to property damage, collisions between man-made structures and conveyances and birds is a contributing factor, among many others, to the worldwide decline of many avian species.

So if you were scared after reading about the incident at Manchester airport you can rest assured that if the pilots are trained well the chances of birds causing a crash are very remote.

Fabrizio Poli is an Aviation Analyst & Managing Partner of Boutique Aviation Company Tyrus Wings. He is also an accomplished Airline Transport Pilot having flown both private Jets and for the airlines. Fabrizio is also a bestselling author and inspirational speaker & has been featured in the Daily Telegraph, Wealth X, Financial Times, El Financiero and many other Media offering insight on the aviation world. You can tune in weekly to Fabrizio's business Podcast Living Outside the Cube available both in video & audio.

You can contact Fabrizio on:

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