FOXSYLVANIA

–Early reports sugest that a bird strike caused a jet plane to crash in the Hudson River near Manhattan on January 15th.  Such incidents occur when birds, usually gulls, raptors, and geese, are sucked into a jet engine and strike an engine fan blade.   The impact displaces the blade so that it strikes another blade and a cascade effect occurs, causing engine failure.  It isn’t good for the birds, either.

A twelve pound Canadian goose striking an aircraft going 150 mph at lift-off generates the force of a 1,000 pound weight dropped from a height of ten feet.  Flocks of birds are even more dangerous as they can result in multiple strikes.

Now large aircraft are certified to be able to keep flying after impacting with a four pound bird, but 36 species of birds in North America weigh more than this.  Birds are especially dangerous to aircraft in the first several thousand feet after take-off, where birds are likely to be flying.

More than 200 people have been killed worldwide as a result of wildlife strikes with aircraft since 1988.  A Canadian military jet was taken out by a bird strike in 2004.   In the case of the Hudson River crash, the birds apparently took out both engines…

…maybe Alfred Hitchcock in The Birds was right!–Caw, caw!