Bird Strike

A bird strike is any collision between a bird and an aircraft, whether in flight or during ground operations including takeoff and landing rolls. Bird strikes are among the most common wildlife hazards in aviation and have caused fatal accidents, engine failures, structural damage to airframes, shattered cockpit windscreens, and loss of control. The event that brought bird strikes into public consciousness most dramatically was US Airways Flight 1549, which ditched in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009, after a flock of Canada geese disabled both engines of an Airbus A320 shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport — resulting in no fatalities and the immediate canonization of the event as the "Miracle on the Hudson."

What Is a Bird Strike?

A bird strike occurs when wildlife — most commonly birds, but also bats and other flying fauna — makes contact with any part of an aircraft. The most consequential bird strikes involve ingestion of birds into jet engines, which can damage or destroy fan blades, compressor stages, and combustion chambers. Windscreen strikes, while less likely to cause immediate loss of control, have caused pilots to lose consciousness from sudden decompression or facial injuries. Strikes to pitot tubes, antennas, and control surfaces have caused navigational and handling problems. At low altitude during takeoff or approach — when aircraft are at their most vulnerable — even a single large bird like a Canada goose (weighing 3 to 8 kilograms) can cause catastrophic engine damage. Flocking birds, including starlings, European starlings, and red-winged blackbirds, create mass-ingestion events that simultaneously damage both engines, as occurred with Flight 1549.

How It Works in Practice

Airport wildlife management programs form the primary defense against bird strikes. The FAA Advisory Circular AC 150/5200-36B provides comprehensive guidance on airport wildlife hazard management plans, requiring airports above a certain activity threshold to employ certified wildlife biologists and to use a combination of habitat modification, harassment techniques (pyrotechnics, distress calls, border collies, falconry, lasers), lethal removal, and environmental changes such as draining ponds and removing berry-producing vegetation near runways. Aircraft are certified to withstand bird ingestion through FAA Part 33 engine certification tests, which require turbine engines to survive ingestion of specified bird masses at defined speeds without catching fire or releasing hazardous debris, though engine shutdown is permitted. Windscreens are tested to withstand the impact of a 1.8-kilogram bird at cruise speed.

Why It Matters

Bird strikes are far more frequent than most passengers realize. The FAA's Wildlife Strike Database recorded over 17,000 reported strikes in the United States in 2022 alone, and the actual number is estimated to be several times higher since most minor strikes go unreported. The economic cost runs to over $1 billion annually in the US, including repairs, delays, and diversions. The problem has worsened as migratory bird populations have partly recovered under environmental protection laws, and as airports have expanded into bird habitat. The Hudson River ditching demonstrated both how quickly a dual engine failure can occur after a bird strike and how effectively a well-trained crew could manage an unprecedented emergency — Captain Chesley Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles had approximately 208 seconds from the bird strike to touchdown on the river.

Key Facts and Figures

• The FAA Wildlife Strike Database contains records of over 280,000 bird strikes at US airports from 1990 through 2022.
• Canada geese are the species most commonly associated with damage-causing strikes due to their size and flocking behavior near airports.
• FAA Part 33.76 requires turbofan engines to be tested for bird ingestion including a single large bird (1.82 kg) ingested at approach speed.
• The world's first recorded fatal bird strike occurred on September 7, 1905, when Orville Wright collided with a bird during a flight in Ohio.
• Engine certification testing for large birds simulates ingestion velocities up to approximately 200 knots.
• Approximately 98 percent of reported bird strikes occur below 3,000 feet AGL, during takeoff and approach phases.

Related Concepts

FAA, Engine Certification, Wildlife Hazard Management, Ditching, Autorotation