Background
On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 from LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport crashed into the Hudson River after losing both engines due to running into a flock of Canada Geese at about 3000 feet altitude after takeoff; all 150 passengers and 5 crew members were successfully evacuated from a safe water ditch.[7] According to Robin Roberts, from the Good Morning America show, the pilot of Flight 1549 landed the plane perfectly on the Hudson River.
Obviously people are concerned about the cause: Bird/terrorism/any other mechanical failure.
I was suspicious and wanted to learn a bit more about birds and flight hazards. What I've found in wikipedia is very interesting and wanted to share with you. It was a good learning experience and hopefully you would enjoy it too.
From Wikipedia
A bird strike (sometimes birdstrike, bird hit, or BASH (Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard)) in aviation is a collision between an airborne animal (usually a bird) and a man-made vehicle, especially aircraft. It is a common threat to aircraft safety, and has caused a number of fatal accidents.
Bird strikes happen most often during take off or landing, or during low altitude flight. However, bird strikes have also been reported at high altitudes, some as high as 6000 to 9000 meters above ground level. The majority of bird collisions occur near or on airports (90%, according to the ICAO) during takeoff, landing and associated phases. According to the FAA wildlife hazard management manual for 2005, less than 8% of strikes occur above 900 meters and 61% occur at less than 30 m (100 ft)
The point of impact is usually any forward-facing edge of the vehicle such as a wing leading edge, nose cone, jet engine cowling or engine inlet.
Jet engine ingestion is extremely serious due to the rotation speed of the engine fan and engine design. As the bird strikes a fan blade, that blade can be displaced into another blade and so forth, causing a cascading failure. Jet engines are particularly vulnerable during the takeoff phase when the engine is turning at a very high speed.
The force of the impact on an aircraft depends on the weight of the animal and the speed difference and direction at the impact. The energy of the impact increases with the square of the speed difference. Hence a low-speed impact of a small bird on a car windshield causes relatively little damage. High speed impacts, as with jet aircraft, can cause considerable damage and even catastrophic failure to the vehicle. However, according to the FAA only 15% of strikes (ICAO 11%) actually result in damage to the aircraft. The impact of a 5 kg (12 pound) bird at 240 km/h (150 mph) equals that of a 1/2 ton (1000 pound) weight dropped from a height of 3 meters (10 ft).
Bird strikes can damage vehicle components, or injure passengers. Flocks of birds are especially dangerous, and can lead to multiple strikes, and damage. Depending on the damage, aircraft at low altitudes or during take off and landing often cannot recover in time, and thus crash.
In the USA, remains of the bird, usually called snarge, are sent to the Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identification Laboratory to determine the species. The Israeli Air Force has a larger than usual birdstrike risk as Israel is on a major spring and autumn long-distance bird migration route
FIGHTER - BirdStrike Flameout Eject Crash
ThomsonFly 757 bird strike & flames captured on video
If you are interested to learn more about the following aspects please go to wikipedia
Don't forget/miss the pictures of the impacts between birds and aircrafts
Contents
2 Species
3 Countermeasures
3.1 Vehicle design
3.2 Bird management
3.3 Flight path
4 Incidents
5 In popular culture
6 References
7 See also
8 External links