Explained: What are bird strikes and how they can affect flights

What is the News?

Recently, at least two bird strike incidents have happened. Following both of these incidents, the aircraft had to return back to their origin airports and were grounded for maintenance.

What are Bird Strikes?

A Bird Strike is strictly defined as a collision between a bird and an aircraft which is in flight or on a take-off or landing roll.

What is the impact of Bird Strike on aircraft?

Typically, when birds collide with an aircraft’s airframe, it is unlikely to cause significant problems for the pilots flying. 

However, if the collision has happened with a window or a windscreen resulting in cracking of the structure, pilots will look to land the plane as early as possible.

Further, smaller planes would generally be more susceptible to the dangers of bird strikes than larger ones.

What causes Bird Strikes?

In the simplest of terms, the presence of birds around an airfield increases the chances of a bird strike. 

In monsoons, as water puddles emerge in open grounds attracting insects to breed, it also increases the presence of birds in these regions. 

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.

What steps have been taken to avoid Bird Strikes?

Firstly, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the DGCA has recognised wildlife strikes including bird and animal hits to aircraft as one of the “State Safety Priority”.

Secondly, DGCA regularly carries out aerodrome inspections that are considered critical with regard to wildlife strikes.

Thirdly, Aviation authorities along with local agencies are working on reducing wildlife presence around airports from time to time.

Source: The post is based on the article “Explained: What are bird strikes and how they can affect flights” published in Indian Express on 21st June 2022.