Explained: What are bird strikes and how they affect aviation safety?

Sunday was a bad day for flying in India. Two separate flights, one involving a P atna-Delhi SpiceJet flight and an IndiGo plane flying Guwahati-Delhi , had to return back to their origin airports and were grounded for maintenance after a bird hit the planes. The incidents will now be probed by the aviation safety regulator — Directorate General of Civil Aviation. We take a look at what exactly are bird hits and the danger it poses to the aviation sector. What is a bird strike? The event of an airborne animal (usually a bird or a bat) hitting an airplane in flight is referred to as a bird strike. Bird strikes also happen to other man-made objects on land, such as cars, power lines and wind turbines, which usually result in death for the birds. According to scienceabc.com, the first ever case of a bird strike was reported by Orville Wright (one of the Wright brothers who is credited with inventing and flying the world’s first successful airplane) in 1905. It was reported that Orville was flying circles near a cornfield in Ohio; he had apparently been chasing flocks of birds before he hit one. The dead bird lay on the wing of his airplane until he made a sharp turn to dump it off. Bird strikes usually occur when an airplane is flying at low altitudes. Therefore, the most favourable conditions for a bird strike are during take-offs or landings (or other related phases) of airplanes. A survey held by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), including data from 91 countries found out that airlines face an average of 34 bird strikes in a day. The damage amounted to more than $1 billion annually. A relieving fact is that almost 92 per cent of the air strikes are without any damage. How dangerous are bird strikes? Bird strikes are among the most common threats to aircraft safety, and they typically occur during the take-off or landing phases of a flight. Bird strikes occur almost every day, but some are more dangerous than others. Arguably the most dangerous form of bird strike is one in which a bird is ingested into the aircraft’s engine; this event is referred to as a jet engine ingestion (since the bird is ‘ingested’ by the engine). Of course, the danger in such situations increase further if a larger flock of multiple birds is involved. The most famous incident is that of US Airways flight 1549 on 15 January 2009. The plane was scheduled from La Guardia, New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina when the aircraft hit a flock of birds (Canada geese), so significantly it obscured the pilots’ windscreen view. Both engines failed and the pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger – affectionately known as Sully — landed it on the Hudson River with no fatalities. This incident was then made into the famous movie Sully, starring Tom Hanks. In the case of Sunday’s incident, SpiceJet Boeing 737 aircraft had to make an emergency landing at the Patna airport after a bird hit one of its engines. According to the DGCA, the bird hit led to the failure of engine 1 on the Patna-Delhi SpiceJet aircraft, which was forced to make an emergency landing at Bihta Airforce Station in Patna after its left wing caught fire.

A Delhi-bound SpiceJet flight returned to Patna airport after engine issues in the aircraft: Airport official#Emergency pic.twitter.com/SAvulJUOb3

— Chaudhary Parvez (@ChaudharyParvez) June 19, 2022

In the second incident on Sunday, flight 6E 6394 from Guwahati-Delhi had to return to Guwahati airport, due to a bird hit after take-off.

IndiGo A320neo engine damaged after hitting birds on takeoff from Guwahati Airport in India yesterday. This was the 2nd birdstrike incident in 24 hours. No injuries reported. https://t.co/yMGk9EW0uJ

📹 27saurabhsinha pic.twitter.com/GTJzqrYQjh

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) June 20, 2022

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Another instance when bird strikes can be dangerous is when they hit the airplane’s exterior, which can cause significant cosmetic damage to the plane’s exterior. This can sometimes cause aircraft to be temporarily withdrawn from service. An example of an incident that saw a bird strike result in cosmetic damage took place in November 2020. This saw a MwantJet Embraer ERJ145 have its windscreen smashed by the force of a collision with a bird that it encountered while departing from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. How to avoid bird strikes? Airports across the world have been trying various measures to prevent them from even coming close to planes. Predatory bird sound recordings, cartridge scarers — which produce loud bangs and flashes of light — mechanical falcons, trained falcons and drones have all been used. However, experts note that these measures are short-term in nature, as the birds get used to the sound. Airports authorities also have to ensure that bird habitats around the airport and its runway(s) are reduced. Open areas of grass and water, shrubs, trees provide food and roosting sites for birds. For this reason, airports tend to cut down trees with nests, reduce rainwater pooling, and substitute cattle grazing for grain crops. Another suggestion to prevent such incidents is that engines should be covered with a grill. But this isn’t as easy as it sounds. The main issue is that to effectively block the bird at 800km/h, the grid has to be significantly sturdy and thick, but this will disrupt the air flowing into the engine. Another way to avoid bird strikes was one provided by a study from Perdue University; officials found that planes painted in dark colours attract more birds. Hence, brighter shades should be used to help birds avoid the aircraft. Amsterdam’s Schiphol International Airport, perhaps, adopted the most innovative method to avoid bird hits. A small herd of pigs was drafted in to combat the hazard of bird strikes in a pilot project. The idea behind the plan was that the pigs would come and eat the crop leftovers, which attract birds, removing a source of food. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.