OT Plane Crash because of Birds

Jimw · 2009-01-16T10:51:41+00:00

Off Topic, but hardware related.It's been all over the news about the plane that crashed into a riverin (I think) New York. They said it was caused by birds flying intothe engine. Then they showed a report of the number of bird causedplane accidents and deaths each year. From 1990 to 2007 there werealmost 80,000 accidents caused by birds. There have been numerousdeaths and millions of dollars of damages. OK, looking at the engines they showed on tv, I immediately thought***Why dont they put some sort of screening over the engine***It would only seem like a couple hundred dollars worth of hardwarecloth would solve the problem. Why dont they think of simplesolutions like this? Jim

Jan 16, 2009 41 Replies

Rate this thread:

Saved reading

Kurt Ullman 17 years ago

Nah. In order to be used, they have to mil-spec chickens (g).

Vote

Ernie Willson 17 years ago

At Pratt we had a steam powered catapult "chicken gun" which

I believe the do now. Back in the 50's it was as easy to get a live chicken as a plucked and cleaned one. The live chicken is closer to a real bird strike than a cleaned one, however, I doubt that the missing viscera and feathers affects the effects on the engine.

BTW there is a "spec" chicken. IIRC the spec says that the chicken must be thoroughly thawed, it must hit the engine inlet at or above a certain velocity, and it must be heavier than a stated minimum weight.

EJ in NJ

Vote