Commercial and private pilots report thousands of incidents a year where birds hit their aircraft, but the vast majority of the potentially dangerous encounters do not result in substantial damage or serious crashes.
Birds are being investigated as the possible cause of Thursday's US Airways incident. Authorities said the pilot of the Airbus A320 reported a "double bird strike" during takeoff, forcing the crew to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River as both engines lost power.
"Bird strikes are not uncommon, and they cost the airline industry millions of dollars a year," said Jon Russell, a commercial pilot and Western region safety coordinator for the Air Line Pilots Assn. "But a dual engine flameout is very unusual. I've never heard of that before."
Between 1990 and 2007, civilian pilots reported 79,972 bird strikes to the Federal Aviation Administration. About 85% came from commercial airlines and the rest involved business, private or government aircraft. According to the FAA, 43 planes and helicopters were destroyed or damaged, mostly light aircraft. Eight strikes resulted in a total of 11 deaths.
In the last three decades, the National Transportation Safety Board looked into 130 such incidents. Many strikes were survived by hundreds of shellshocked passengers, some of whom recounted engine fires and hearing a loud bang like a firecracker as their jetliner ascended. The collisions often occur at low altitude during takeoffs, climbs and landings.
On Nov. 29, 2007, a western grebe struck the No. 2 engine of a Boeing 757-200 as it climbed to 1,000 feet after takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport. The plane returned to LAX and made an emergency landing. FAA officials said the bird damaged 13 fan blades, which cost more than $1 million to repair.
In November 1997, a Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 made an emergency landing at John Wayne Airport after a bird flew into an engine. All 103 passengers and crew aboard Flight 208 were uninjured, but they described an unsettling 30-minute ride as the pilot circled over what then was the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station to burn excess fuel before landing amid a phalanx of firefighters, airport security and other personnel.
In one of the worst military accidents involving a bird strike, all 24 U.S. Air Force personnel were killed on Sept. 22, 1995, when their Boeing E-3B surveillance plane encountered a flock of Canada geese shortly after takeoff from Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage. Geese flew into two of the plane's four engines, causing them to lose power.
