Bird strikes: A growing threat to aviation safety

Shafaq News/ Many aviation accidents worldwide, though often minor, are attributed to bird strikes, which may have caused the crash of a passenger plane on Sunday while landing in South Korea from Bangkok.

Since 1988, bird strikes have killed 262 people and destroyed 250 aircraft globally, according to the Wildlife Strike Group of the Australian Aviation Authority. This figure does not include the recent Korean plane crash that killed 179 people.

With the increasing number of flights, such incidents are becoming more frequent. In the United States alone, 291,600 wildlife and civilian aircraft collisions were reported between 1990 and 2023, according to a database created by the Federal Aviation Administration. In France, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation recorded 600 incidents annually during commercial flights. These collisions cause over $1.2 billion in damage to aircraft each year, according to the Australian group.

Bird strikes usually occur during takeoff and landing at low altitudes between 0 and 50 feet (15 meters). Although rare, mid-flight incidents are possible; for instance, a passenger plane in France crashed in 2021 in Seine-et-Marne, near Paris, after colliding with a cormorant.

One of the most famous bird strike incidents occurred in January 2009, when an Airbus A320 operated by US Airways, carrying 155 passengers, successfully landed on the Hudson River in New York after striking a flock of geese.

Serious wildlife collision incidents account for less than 8% of cases and have been declining in recent years, according to the French Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Most damage is cosmetic, such as scratches to the aircraft's body. However, if a bird or more enters the engine, the damage can be severe, particularly if the compressor is affected, potentially causing engine failure, according to an aviation expert.

The Civil Aviation Authority noted that this could result in safety hazards or impact the continuation of the flight, leading to engine shutdowns, cautious landings, takeoff cancellations, and delays.

Risks increase with the size and number of birds, especially during migration periods, potentially causing flames or fires in the engine. The expert clarified that such incidents rarely disable the aircraft's entire hydraulic and electrical systems, allowing the pilot to control landing gear and use the second engine if the first fails.

To mitigate bird strike risks, airports and aircraft manufacturers have implemented several measures, including testing engine resistance by throwing dead chickens and deploying various airport measures, such as broadcasting distress calls or firing preventive shots into the air to scare birds away.