Hollywood actor Tom Hanks’ movie Sully was about a pilot whose aircraft hits a flock of migrating Canadian geese about two minutes into the flight. The bird strike damages the two jet engines to such an extent that they cannot maintain thrust for sustained flight. The crew manages to rescue all the 150 passengers on board after landing the aircraft in the Hudson River.

The movie is based on a real-life incident that occurred on January 15, 2009. The incident is now known as the “Miracle on the Hudson. The aircraft was piloted by Chesley B Sullenberger III, who later received several honours for his heroic effort, including being appointed as the US ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

What is essential to know is that such incidents of bird strikes have become frequent. According to ICAO, at least 34 bird strikes happen every day, mainly during the flight take-off stage. According to estimates, the damage caused to aircraft is worth about $1 billion every year.

Mandatory rules

Regulators have made it mandatory for commercial jet engines to comply with bird ingestion norms. They involve certification testing of jet engines for bird ingestion and demonstrating an engine’s ability to ingest birds in various categories at takeoff power and maintain a specified performance level.

One of the tests required for certification involves firing dead chickens at planes from a “chicken gun” for both windshields and engines. The dead chicken should weigh at least 2-4 Kg. After the impact, the engine must not catch fire and be able to safely shut down after 15 seconds with no throttle movement. It must continue to deliver at least 75 per cent of its average takeoff thrust for a 2-minute run-on period to return to the airport.

Now that the bird strike test has been taken care of, the regulators have a new challenge: strikes from drones.

Source: American Scientist

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