Bird strikes: common threats to aircraft safety

Subject: Science

Section: Msc

Context:

At least two bird strike incidents happened recently. Both aircraft returned to their ori- gin airports and were grounded for maintenance.

Why are bird strikes a concern?

Bird strikes are among the most common threats to aircraft safety, and they typically occur during takeoff or landing.
Dozens of bird strikes happen each day but some can be more dangerous than others.
Typically, when birds collide with an aircraft’s airframe, it is unlikely to cause significant problems for the pilots flying.
But there are instances — when the aircraft engine ingests the birds. This can lead to a loss of thrust for the engine and cause manoeuvrability problems for the crew.
In these cases, where a jet engine ingests a bird, procedures would generally call for pilots to get the plane on the ground at the closest airport.
While most airframe bird strikes are not considered critical to air safety, if a collision cracks a window or a windscreen, pilots will look to land as early as possible.

How critical are bird strikes to air safety?

Smaller planes would generally be more susceptible to the dangers of bird strikes than larger ones.
Modern jetliners are built with a number of redundancies, and common passenger aircraft like Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 are designed to safely land with even a single engine.
However, given that bird strikes mostly happen during take-off and landing, these incidents could distract the pilots during what are highly critical phases of a flight that demand the complete attention of the crew.

What causes bird strikes?

The presence of birds around an airfield increases the chances of a bird strike.
In the monsoon, as water puddles emerge on open grounds attracting insects to breed, these also increase the presence of birds.
In some cases, bird hits also happen at higher altitudes when a plane is cruising. These are more dangerous than the low-altitude hits given that they can cause rapid depressurisation of cabins.
Other reasons for bird activity around an airfield could be the presence of landfills or waste disposal sites that attract a large number of birds.

Ways to prevent bird strikes:

The Ministry of Civil Aviation and the DGCA have recognised wildlife strikes, including bird and animal hits, to aircraft as one of the “State Safety Priority”, and the aviation regulator regularly carries out aerodrome inspections that are considered critical with regard to wildlife strikes.
Aviation authorities, along with local agencies, work on reducing wildlife presence around airports from time to time.