Why can't we keep jetliners safe from flying flocks?

T

he wreckage is hard to look at.

Smoking piles of twisted metal litter the crash site. The rudder section of a once-proud jetliner, flipped on its back, yawns toward the sky like a whale tail breaking the waves in search of air. In a moment, 179 lives were snuffed out on this spot.

Five aviation incidents over four days during the holiday travel week have shattered global confidence in the safety of air travel. Significantly, bird strikes were implicated in at least two — possibly more — of the accidents. The pilot of Jeju Flight 7C2216 reported hitting a bird just before apparently losing control, precipitating the tragic accident in South Korea on December 29.

On March 10, 2019, a Boeing 737 airliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, Ethiopia, killing all 157 people aboard. The US National Transportation Safety Board found that a bird strike was a key factor in the crash.

Are man’s mighty machines at the mercy of mere birds? Why haven’t we figured out how to keep planes safe from flying flocks? Mishpacha spoke with the senior superintendent of aircraft maintenance at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, to better understand the menace of bird strikes.

Birds of Peril

Bird strikes have caused some of the most dramatic aviation episodes in history. On August 15, 2019, 234 people experienced a “Miracle on the Corn Field,” when, shortly after taking off from a Moscow airport, Ural Airlines Flight 178 made a forced landing into a field of corn crops after herring gulls flew into both engines.

On January 15, 2009, Captain Chesley Sullenberger famously brought down his US Airways jet in the Hudson River after exchanging pleasantries with a gaggle of geese and losing both engines.

The incident, called the “Miracle on the Hudson,” prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to commission an extensive report regarding bird strikes on aircraft and to invest nearly half a billion dollars in understanding and preventing such occurrences.

According to the report, there were more than 19,400 strikes at US airports in 2023. Worldwide, 296,613 avian impacts killed 491 people and destroyed 350 planes between 1988 and 2023. Bird damage costs airlines about $1.36 billion annually.

It’s Usually No Big Deal

The majority of bird impacts leave aircraft unharmed; they are designed to withstand them. Jet engines are essentially enormous fans — taller than an adult man — with hundreds of blades spinning at dizzying speed. They suck in almost anything within hundreds of feet in front of them. Birds are usually pulverized in an instant and expelled harmlessly.

But a bird can impact and damage an aircraft wing, fuselage, or even break through the windscreen and hit a pilot. A large bird — such as a 14-pound goose — striking a plane traveling at 350 miles per hour packs an impact force equal to nearly 35 tons. No structural hardening can prepare a vehicle for that kind of thump.

According to the FAA study, in about 15 percent of strikes, aircraft are damaged, but can still operate under the control of the crew, and will be safely diverted. However, even one tragedy in a million is unacceptable.

Crowded Skies

The bird strike risk is getting worse. The FAA report shows a 14 percent increase in incidents in 2023 over 2022, following five and six percent increases annually in the preceding years. The reasons for the rising numbers aren’t clear, but an increase in the volume of flights is a factor. Another factor is quieter planes, which fail to frighten birds away.

Human populations have also expanded, and continued development forces birds to congregate. It also means that they get used to having people around, and don’t instinctively disperse anymore by the sight and sound of engines or mitigation devices. The FAA also blames wildlife conservation efforts, which have increased the population of birds dangerous to aircraft.

Keeping Air Travel Safe

What can be done to prevent metal and feathers from trying to occupy the same several square feet of air? Current bird mitigation efforts range from the Stone Age variety to gee-whiz technology.

Over 82 percent of bird strikes occur within five miles of an airport, when planes are below 1,500 feet. Birds tend to hover at low levels, meaning that prevention has to begin at the airport.

The US Air Force’s 12th Flying Training Wing at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph is using large nets to trap birds near its flightline. Many airports, such as Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) in Texas, deploy sound machines or loudspeakers that broadcast the sounds of shotguns, birds of prey, or distress calls of common species. Some fire delayed-action canisters near clusters of birds, which explode with a deafening, 150-decible boom.

An FAA official notes that the noise is distressing for people unfortunate enough to live near an airport with bird problems. People get used to it, eventually — but so do the birds. “I’ve seen birds perched happily on the edge of the propane cannons,” the official said.

Natural Enemies

DFW also imports raptors and predatory birds in the hope that these will convince smaller birds to relocate. An old strategy, that has been abandoned, was installing plastic owls around the airport facilities. These worked for a while, but eventually the bird-brains wised up to the fakes — which are now perched on the desks of airport employees. Interestingly, stuffed or dead turkey vultures have been successful at deterring birds. They just can’t get used to those guys.

In Hawaii and Arkansas, airports have trained dogs to keep birds away. Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, and other Air Force installations, have another kind of “bird dogs” — people who drive the length of the runway with shotguns.

Some prevention officers have turned to population control. One airport put poison into puddles of water that formed on its runway, after noticing that birds liked to refresh themselves there. An FAA biologist suggests putting grape-flavored Kool-Aid, or methyl anthranilate (grape-seed extract) into the water. Apparently, birds don’t like grape flavor.

Emerging Technologies

The FAA has dedicated $30 million for research into new technology, such as lasers, avian radar tracking and mapping, and drones.

Lasers projected by aircraft don’t shoot down the avian wildlife like Israel’s David’s Sling system; they scare away birds. The birds see the light beam as a solid object and avoid it. New research has also identified specific patterns of flashing lights on aircraft that repel wildlife. So the next time you are out drone hunting in the night sky and say, “Hey, plane lights don’t flash like that,” keep in mind that a bird deterrent system may be operating on a manned airliner.

Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam was the first to deploy a complex system of radars and cameras that track all birds within five miles of the airport, mapping their flights and studying their habits. The FAA is also looking at using hovering drones to track birds below (while also hazing the winged creatures). Biologists track and map the migration patterns of large, dangerous birds, like Canada geese.

BASH Windows

The data from all these systems are fed into a computer that tracks and predicts bird movement, warning airports and pilots of something they call BASH (Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard) windows — times when large birds are likely to interfere with local air operations. A warning like this was issued to the Jeju flight shortly before it struck a bird.

Other uses of drones include small flying devices disguised as falcons or hawks. Unmanned cars and boats also roam tarmacs and nearby coastal waters. One team used remote-controlled boats to corral about 200 geese and move them from their home lake to a new location.

Another frequent risk is migrating birds — which fly much higher than local birds. While in migration, most species fly at 5,000 to 10,000 feet; some fly as high as 20,000. The FAA recommends that flight plans coordinate with known migration patterns, locations, and times, and work around the avian highways.

The Ounce of Prevention

Ultimately, FAA experts recommend proactive planning as the best method of reducing bird-related losses. For example, municipal planners can make more informed decisions about where to put an airport.

Birds like the sea, garbage dumps, and other predictable landscape features. Airports should not be built near their terrain. In situations where an airport discovers — too late — that it moved into a feathery neighborhood, avian experts have tried a mixture of lures, food management, traps, and physical barriers to convince the birds to move out.

In retrospect, it should come as no surprise that the sharp increase in bird strike accidents occurred during the busiest travel days of the year. While the investigation will take months, officials would be wise to look at whether tightly packed flying schedules and the pressure to get planes in the air compromised safety, forcing planes to take off while it was known that dangerous flocks of birds were within their BASH window.

It is ultimately up to governments to ensure that the interest of efficiency and service do not compromise safety standards, in this regard as much as any other.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1044)