Originally posted by: Broohaha
After traveling for the last two weeks, I have concluded that having your airplane come apart somehow (bird in the engine?) and being thrown into the ether at 35,000 feet is the most horrific way to end it all. What would the physics do to you? Would you instantly die? Freeze to death? Get a major sunburn? I mean damn, I know airplanes (in the developed world, anyway) are pretty darn safe but I couldn't help but clutch my serving try whenever we hit any turbulence.
Um. IIRC.... Boeing, P&W, GE, whatever, did some testing.
They take a flock of geese and fire them into a turbofan and make sure the engine still operates.
It may be a part of FAA airworthiness too.
-PAB
EDIT: Chickens.
November 19, 2001 - FAA Targets Bird-airplane Collisions
Sacramento Bee
By Matthew Barrows
Bee Staff Writer (A weekly column about transportation issues in the region)
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Talk about fast food delivery.
To ensure that jet engines can withstand collisions with birds, the Federal Aviation Administration asks engine manufacturers to turn poultry into guided missiles.
In the FAA's "large bird ingestion test," recently euthanized chickens are stuffed into air cannons and fired at 175 mph into a working jet engine.
While the engine may break down as a result of the impact, the goal is that it won't break apart and send shrapnel into other parts of the plane.
The test, of course, is designed to mimic real bird strikes, which reached 6,000 reported incidents last year - more than triple the total from a decade ago, according to Richard Dolbeer, a U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist who specializes in bird-plane collisions.
Although most strikes occur without anyone on board knowing about it, there have been a number of human fatalities. The most infamous encounter happened in 1960 when an Eastern Airlines jet struck a flock of starlings and crashed into Boston Harbor, killing 62 people.
Last week, a bird strike was listed as a possible cause for the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in New York. A preliminary investigation, however, did not turn up any bird remains.
Dolbeer said the jump in bird strikes is partly related to better reporting among airlines and airports. But he said rising bird populations - particularly waterfowl - also are playing a role.
About 30 percent of the encounters that have inflicted significant damage to planes involve ducks and geese, Dolbeer said.
Of particular concern these days is the ubiquitous Canada goose, a bird that weighs up to 12 pounds and has been enjoying a population boom in the lower 48 states.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates there are well over 4 million Canada geese in the country, and in some regions, their numbers are increasing by 17 percent a year.
Dolbeer said a 10-pound goose hitting a plane traveling 150 mph just after takeoff is equivalent to dropping a 1,000-pound weight on the plane from 10 feet up.
In August 2000, a Boeing 747 leaving Philadelphia International Airport hit a flock of 30 Canada geese just prior to takeoff and ingested at least one into the engine. The takeoff was aborted; the engine had been destroyed.
In June, a Canada goose was sucked into the No. 2 engine of an Airbus 300 climbing out of Dayton, Ohio. The engine burst apart and the plane had to make an emergency landing in Dayton. The repair bill was so high - $3.5 million - the engine had to be scrapped.
The FAA's Marc Bouthillier said concern with Canada geese and other large waterfowl has reached the point where agency officials are considering adding another layer to its jet engine tests for very large birds.
When asked if that would involve firing 12-pound Thanksgiving Day turkeys at the engines, Bouthillier responded that engine makers would probably purchase geese at nearby farms.
At Sacramento International Airport, officials use noisemakers and fireworks to scare off birds, and work with USDA biologists to make sure nearby fields aren't attracting too many feathered friends.
Biologist Patrick Smith said grasses cut too low will attract flocks of birds or geese. Grasses that grow too high will bring rodents, which in turn attract raptors.
But even the Canada goose's smaller cousins pose a big risk.
In April, for example, a Boeing 767 was leaving Charles de Gaulle Airport in France for the United States when it crossed paths with a flock of northern shovelers, puddle ducks that weigh just over a pound each.
The impacts caused 11 punctures in the aircraft - "It looked like artillery shells had hit the plane," Dolbeer said - and one duck crashed into the cockpit, causing the plane to depressurize.
The pilot, wearing an oxygen mask, returned the plane safely to Paris.