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Bird Strike: United Airlines Flight 915 Makes Emergency Landing

by Yuliya Talmazan | January 22, 2010 at 05:26 pm

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United Airlines Flight 915 that took off from the Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. bound for San Francisco was forced to make an emergency landing at 4:30 PM local time on Friday after a large bird was sucked into one of its engines minutes after takeoff. The Boeing 752 plane has reportedly returned to the Dulles Airport and made a safe landing. There are no injuries or plane damage reported at this time.

The bird was sucked into the engine just as the flight was taking off, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker. Maintenance crews at Dulles found "fragments of a large bird" on the runway, she said.

The aircraft is being inspected for possible damage, she said.

The most dramatic aviation incident involving a double engine bird strike happened on January 15, 2009 when Flight 1549 Airbus A320 was struck by a flock of Canada Geese that shut off both of its engines. Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger made a decision to land his plane with 155 passengers on board into the icy waters of Hudson River. No one was hurt or died in the incident.

Early this year, it was reported that the number of bird strikes is surging. There are no about 27 bird strikes every day in the skies over the U.S., according to the government statistics. The tally for the 2009 exceeded 10,000 for the first time.

“Birds and planes are fighting for airspace, and it’s getting increasingly crowded,’’ said Richard Dolbeer, an authority on bird-plane collisions who is advising the Federal Aviation Administration and the Agriculture Department.

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Wayne Williams (not verified)

at 06:17 on January 25th, 2010

So why isn't the government doing something about it. I have read on line that the FAA has been working on the problem for over 10 years but says advanced technologies like bird radars are not ready. Yet somehow it seems the air force, NASA and foreign airports have already figured out how to use these things. More government waste !