Do airplanes ever hit a bird while taking off/landing?

[general_kill]

With all these flights taking off and landing everyday, I'm sure that more than a few airplanes hit something in the sky. What would happen if a bird hit the turbine? What about other airplane anomalies?

 

[emzie]

The bird dies.

 

[GenMarshall]

I heard in cases, especialy with older jet engines, that the blades oftenly break if a bird gets in a running engine.

 

[Sidhe]

With all these flights taking off and landing everyday, I'm sure that more than a few airplanes hit something in the sky. What would happen if a bird hit the turbine? What about other airplane anomalies?

Yes loads of them, but they have bird scarers at airports to see the bird hitting is minimised. Birds can do an unbelieveable amount of damage to a jet engine.

 

[Elta]

Yeah I can't remember the exact numer but, a crow had the highest recorded altitude ever (it was a few miles up) when it hit a 747 - guiness ....I'll look for my old guiness book later ......maybe I'll buy some guiness first

 

[Perfection]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_strike

Wiki it, foo'!

 

[Atlas14]

A lot of damage to both plane and bird. Red-tailed hawks are actually used by falconers who are employed by airline companies to keep such birds away from the actual airport vicinity. The falconer gets paid very good money too.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Yes loads of them, but they have bird scarers at airports to see the bird hitting is minimised. Birds can do an unbelieveable amount of damage to a jet engine.

Its primarly the speed of the aircraft accelerating that dose the damage. the small mass of the bird is impacting at 100s of kms an hour.

 

[Elta]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_strike

Wiki it, foo'!

Good lookin'

 

[skadistic]

All the time. Bird strikes are very common. They obliterate themselves and compressor fins. Many airports use falconers, dogs, audio and visual deterants like sound waves to keep birds away.

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

It is ammazing that a bird can damage an aircraft. I have heard that some airtraffic controllers actualy look for birds before they give the ok.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Often, airlines will have cats on the wings during flight so as to chase away any birds who think about getting too close to the engines...

 

[general_kill]

Wow, this is really scary...

 

[Bluemofia]

Hmm, I knew that birds impact planes all the time, but I didn't know they would damage the engine. I just thought they will be blenderized, and then incinerated.

Those blades do spin fast...

 

[Knight-Dragon]

IIRC last year or the year before, there was a plane crash in Indonesia due to a bird being sucked into the turbine... It was an older plane model I think.

 

[History_Buff]

It is ammazing that a bird can damage an aircraft. I have heard that some airtraffic controllers actualy look for birds before they give the ok.

It's not that amazing. Aircraft are rather thin skinned, and just about any two objects hitting each other with a combined relative velocity of about 300 kPh are gonna do serious damage to each other.

 

[Tomoyo]

I would have thought that something about the aerodynamics of the plane's shape would somehow blow the bird around the plane...

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I would have thought that something about the aerodynamics of the plane's shape would somehow blow the bird around the plane...

Perhaps at a very slow speed, yes, but when moving at several hundred miles per hour, the change in path is going to be very slight.

 

[Leonel]

Surprisingly, there are some airplane engine companies that actually design their engines to cope with a direct bird strike. They literally fire dead chickens into a running engine at full speed and the engine won't miss a beat.

 

[Truronian]

Just ask Indiana Jones' dad.

Strangely enough, vehicle-animal collisions at high altitude also sometimes includes species that cannot fly. The Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identification Laboratory has identified frogs, turtles and snakes as the animal in the bird strike, and on one occasion even a cat at high altitude, and at another occasion a rabbit at an altitude of 550 metres (1800 feet).