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Does a bird really affect the engine so much that it creats a plane crash? an aviation expert and teacher that i know saids that a medum sized bird will not do anything but creat a bit of a glitch in the flight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcnu6FpQxC4

That ain't a cat they hit up there...



Don't worry, everyone ejected and was fine, mostly, eventually....


Also, though, bigger engines are designed to take a bird, or a couple of them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi8qVTFCTVI

But you would definitely notice, turbine blades are somewhat brittle, but still strong, so when they hit a bird, there is a chance they could break, which would definitely be noticeable.

One or two birds don't really cause to many problems unless they strike a small plane like in that video. It's flocks of birds that cause the problems.

......Also, though, bigger engines are designed to take a bird, or a couple of them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi8qVTFCTVI

A Chap with my sense of humour.... ;D....>>>>

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Corey497   (3 months ago)
it slices, it dices, it cuts french fries in 4 different ways...
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LOL...!

Paul...I need a new chipper... ::)...!

P.S. Further experiments are being carried out on even larger birds....>>>

http://www.simviation.com/yabbuploads/titty.jpg

An engine can fail for any number of reasons- ingesting birds is only one possible cause.
The record shows that there have been crashes due to this, usually when a large aircraft loses power in both engines during takeoff after flying through a flock of birds. One bird  might damage a large jet engine, but probably not enough to cause complete loss of thrust. Airports try to keep birds away, but it's a constant battle, as airports are often very attractive to flocking birds (wide open space, and often near water). So it happens sometimes.

The thing pilots of smaller aircraft fear more is a bird striking the windshield... I'd rather have a broken engine than a face full of Plexiglass and bird guts...

All depends on when, where and what.

I bird strike (specifically to an engine) may just lead to the engine being shut down on a multi or a very nervous few minutes in a single engine jet, or less if the damage is catastrophic...

Take a look for the photos of the 2 seat Dutch F-16 that took a bird last year.

Birds in prop aircraft tend to create more airframe damage, unless they get sucked in to the intake on a turbo prop (again, depending on the design and type of turboprop, and the number of engines), which can be bad news...

Does a bird really affect the engine so much that it creats a plane crash? an aviation expert and teacher that i know saids that a medum sized bird will not do anything but creat a bit of a glitch in the flight.

Bearing in mind that bird ingestion happens hourly around the world somewhere and the news and papers are not full of plane crashes, the simple answer is no. However, simple is not always the correct answer. In extreme cases, yes it can and has brought down aircraft. At the airport I work at, in the next couple of months, bird strikes will almost be a daily occurance but no biggy. Last year a 737-800 ingested a mouse buzzard on thrust reverse. The only reason the crew knew about it was a passenger reported seeing a feather fountain around the engine to one of the cabin crew. The cockpit crew on debrief said there was no engine parameter fluctuation to indicate the strike. We washed it out and carried out the following......Generally this involves cleaning a red grease spot of the aircraft. Engine ingestion happens, but the response to that ingestion takes two different paths with the 737. Firstly if the bird has been ingested, nine times out of ten centrifugal force throws the bird remains to the outside of the fan and out of the bypass. If this is the case, a visual inspection front and rear with a torch is all that is requires. If the bird has entered the core engine (bearing in mind that the air intake ring for the core is only about  four inch circumference behind the first stage fan this also helps the nine out of ten factor) then the engine has to be boroscope inspected. No damage, up she goes again.

Matt

Okay so we can learn two important things from this thread;
1) every pigeon you kill today could prevent a terrible crash tomorrow.
2) don't catapult frozen chickens to great altitudes.

Okay so we can learn two important things from this thread;
1) every pigeon you kill today could prevent a terrible crash tomorrow.
2) don't catapult frozen chickens to great altitudes.

Good advice. I guess I'm off to hunt pigeons.

Hey there's one.  ;D

Depends on what parts are hit

Main intake fans you see on most demo videos are turning way slower than the smaller ones deeper in the engine.
F-16s dont have the large fans up front.

Big fan can get a few dents and bent blades witout vibrating to death, the smaller ones disintegrate.

Best solution is a rack of static cutters in front (like some old PW engines had)

There are some good photos of birdstrikes (and a few other strikes as well) at http://oopslist.com

Gryshnak

It is a serious enough problem that I have to file a report everytime a bird is hit at my airport.  There is the potential for disaster in a bird strike, but the bird has to have good aim.  

Bird Strikes

It would seem most people here think the bird flies into the aircraft.  

This is not correct, lots of bird strikes occur when the aircraft flies into the bird from behind.

The last two strikes I had the ass of the duck was embedded into the leading edge of the starboard wing with his head hanging below the wing and outboard of the prop/engine of the DC3.
This happened on takeoff while turning, we never saw the flock until it was too late.
They were actually flying away from us and we ran into them.  We landed and switched everyone over to another aircraft, the aircraft was down for nearly a month.

Birds are not stupid, they do not intentionally fly into aircraft, it all comes down to who observes the other aviator first.

Perhaps the world's governing aviation bodies like Transport Canada and the United States FAA should force our little winged friends to equip themselves with strobes.  Yes think of the tax the government could collect off our little winged friends who are forced to share the skies with us spam can drivers.
By gosh I am surprised none of our politicians have thought of this.  :o

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

Perhaps the world's governing aviation bodies like Transport Canada and the United States FAA should force our little winged friends to equip themselves with strobes.  Yes think of the tax the government could collect off our little winged friends who are forced to share the skies with us spam can drivers.
By gosh I am surprised none of our politicians have thought of this.  :o

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

I am sure that Brussels are already working some nice rules and the Germans and Brits are working out how much tax our feathered friends should pay. More during holiday and rush hour no doubt and if they fly mid morning they get a small discount.

Matt