Dave has shared some historically significant bird strike accidents, including the famous Miracle on the Hudson, and how it has impacted the way that the Air Force manages bird strikes.
“As Jeff pointed out, birds and aircraft have been a threat to one another, since the very earliest days of aviation or powered flight. Now the Wright brothers were meticulous folks. They recorded their first strike in 1905, well over 100 years ago.
“The first fatal strike occurred to an aviation pioneer It happened to be a pioneer Mr. Cal Rodgers. He’s the first person to fly all the way across the United States. It took him a lot of hops to do it, but he eventually did it. So one day in 1912 Cal took off for a demonstration flight in Long Beach, California, and unfortunately flew into a flock of birds, causing his airplane to crash into the ocean. That's the first known fatality due to a wildlife strike, Mr. Cal Rodgers American aviation pioneer.
“Another tragic event occurred in 1960 at the Logan International Airport, which serves Boston, Massachusetts. That was Eastern Airlines Flight 375 a Lockheed Electra airliner with 72 people on board. They took off from Logan and about six seconds after take off the airplane encountered a huge flock of starlings, small to medium sized birds with many of them which were drawn into the engines, resulting in a significant loss of thrust and maybe a complete loss of thrust. In fact, continued flight was no longer possible. The airplane crashed into the Winthrop, a base section of Boston Harbor. The entire sequence was less than a minute. 62 of the 72 people on board were killed and I understand it remains the greatest loss of life directly linked to a bird strike to date.
“Now remember in 1995 the Air Force experienced a tragic event. An E 3 airborne warning
and control system, AWAX is the acronym jet, a variant of the Boeing 707 with 24 crew members on board to help for takeoff, while another aircraft was cleared for takeoff in front of them and as that aircraft lifted off, it stirred up a flock of Canada geese at the far end of the runway that have been loafing on the grass. Then the E 3 was cleared for takeoff. Of course, the E 3 pilots were too far away to see these birds airborne so they barreled down the runway for takeoff and just after they lifted off the two left side engines ingested Canada geese and completely lost thrust. The two engines on the right wing were still operating but producing insufficient for us to keep the airplane airborne. My experience with four engine airplanes can always fly on three engines, but not necessarily on two. It’s too heavy and in this case it apparently was. The airplane just went straight ahead and exploded into a wooded area. 24 good people on board were lost in that tragedy. The Air Force did and does take that risk very, very seriously. I know from my 31 years of experience in the Air Force.
“If we fast forward to January 2009, a miracle occurred. I was in my office in Connecticut, which is about 100 miles east of New York City. It was a freezing cold winter day. It was a perfectly clear day, but it was freezing cold. Around four o’clock or so in the afternoon my wife called me at the office and told me to turn on the TV, which I did. And the news was on and it was a remarkable sight. There was an airliner in the Hudson River with a bunch of people on the wings and it was surrounded by ferry boats on, I believe, other boats.
“What in the world happened here? Well, that, of course, was US Airways Flight 1549 probably one of the most well known bird strike history, probably the most well known wildlife strike in history. It’s known as the Miracle in the Hudson. It was an A 320 Airbus which launched from LaGuardia destination was Charlotte, North Carolina. They were just below 3000 feet in the air, I believe, when they collided with a flock of Canada geese, which resulted in a complete loss of thrust in both engines. The only option they had, in my opinion, is what they did, they had just enough altitude available to glide down into the Hudson River.
“It was an absolute miracle all 155 people survived. It was a magnificent performance by the captain, the first officer, and the entire cabin crew, as well as the captains and the deck hands of the ferry boats, who were immediately on the scene. The risk is taken very, very seriously today.”
For more information, check out the Flight Talk episode "The Grave Danger of Bird and Wildlife Strikes" on our front page or your favorite podcast platform.
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