Bird strikes, a factor that may have led to the crash of a Boeing aircraft from Jeju Air in South Korea on Sunday, have been responsible for numerous aviation incidents, many of them resulting in fatalities.
Bird collisions have resulted in 262 fatalities and the destruction of 250 aircraft globally since 1988, as reported by the Australian Aviation Wildlife Hazard Group (AAWHG) established by Australian civil aviation. The figures do not account for an incident in South Korea that claimed 179 lives.
This kind of occurrence becomes more common with the rise in air traffic. In the United States alone, there were 291,600 reported incidents of collisions between wild animals and commercial aircraft from 1990 to 2023, as per the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data.
These events result in over $1.2 billion in aircraft damages annually, as reported by AAWHG.
Most accidents happen when the aircraft is taking off or landing, typically at altitudes between 0 and 15 meters. Collisions during the flight are less common but can still happen.
In January 2009, a well-known aerial event involving birds occurred when a US Airways Airbus A320 pilot successfully landed on the Hudson River in New York after hitting a group of wild geese.
Anguished cries.
A former official from the French Civil Aviation Security Research and Analysis Office (BEA) stated that, in the majority of instances, contacting a bird does not lead to severe incidents.
Damage is often limited to physical harm such as dents or impacts on the aircraft cabin. However, if birds enter the engine, the consequences can be much more severe, particularly if they damage the compressor, leading to engine failure or shutdown.
The risk of fire in the reactor can be caused by bird remains or damaged parts, which is more likely to occur with larger flocks of birds during migration.
The specialist mentioned that typically, the plane’s hydraulic and electric systems remain intact, allowing the device to be controlled to retract the landing gear.
He emphasized that the second reactor was intended to assume control should the first one fail.
A specialist described a collision in both reactors simultaneously as extremely uncommon.
Aircraft manufacturers conduct resistance tests in wind tunnels using fake trees, while airports use loudspeakers or shooting to scare birds away.