April 21, 2007:
A recent incident involving Air
Force Two, carrying the U.S. vice president, and with a bird in the
engine,is a stark reminder that even
peacetime flying has its risks. In this case, one of the engines ingested a
bird, as the aircraft was landing in Chicago. The plane was able to land safely,
but Air Force Two is just the highest-profile airplane that has met up with one
of most common, and unrecognized, hazards encountered during peacetime military
operations.
How bad a problem are bird strikes? It varies,
depending on what the aircraft is doing. In some cases, aircraft are flying at
high speed - and the resulting impact alone can cause a lot of damage. The
extent of the problem is huge. In 2006, over 5,000 bird strikes were reported
by the United States Air Force, while civilian aircraft usually report 140-50
percent more. That's a lot of incidents.
In most cases, these collisions do not cause
crashes, because pilots are able to recover due to multiple engines, sufficient
altitude, and location of the impact. For instance, a multi-engine transport
like Air Force Two is more likely to survive a bird strike than a single-engine
fighter like the MiG-21 or F-16 (both of which have been brought down by bird
strikes in recent years). Slower moving aircraft, lower the force of the
impact. Additional engines can take up the slack. Moreover, transports rarely
make hard maneuvers that can leave a pilot with no room to recover from the
unexpected.
Even then, a rundown of incidents over the years
shows there is little guarantee that there will be no harm. This list of
incidents includes the loss of an E-3 AWACS and all 24 crew on board in 1995,
when it hit a flock of birds on takeoff from a base in Alaska. Another strike
in 1987 destroyed one of the early B-1B bombers - killing three of the six crew
on board. In October, 2004, a C-5B suffered damage to two engines when it
encountered a flock of birds. In 2003, the United States Air Force lost two
F-16Cs to bird strikes. The Navy and Marines are not immune, either. Since
1980, they have lost 25 aircraft, with two pilots killed, from an average of
740 bird strikes a year.
Dealing with the birds can be a tough issue, due to
the fact that in some cases, laws like the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, limit how
many can be killed. Often, non-lethal systems are used to keep the birds away
from airfields, and the runways in particular. Bird strikes are particularly
dangerous during takeoffs. In many cases, a zero-tolerance approach is taken
towards the presence of large waterfowl near airfields and airports. This might
be hard on the geese, but due to the fact that bird strikes tend to involve
more than just feathers flying, it is necessary. - Harold C. Hutchison
(haroldc.hutchison@gmail.com)