Officials are investigating a bird strike as a possible cause of Sunday's Jeju Air passenger jet crash at Muan International Airport in South Korea. — ©2024 New York Times Company
AFTER a Jeju Air plane crashed as it was landing in South Korea on Sunday, killing 179 of the 181 people on board, officials said they were investigating possible causes including a landing gear malfunction and a bird strike.
While it is not uncommon for planes to strike wildlife, most episodes don’t result in deaths or serious injuries.
Still, from 1988 through 2023, wildlife strikes involving civilian and military aircraft killed 76 people in the United States, according to a Federal Aviation Administration report published in June. Most of those strikes involved birds, but the FAA’s definition of a wildlife strike also includes coyotes, deer and bats.
In the United States in 2023, 19,603 wildlife strikes were reported, which averages to about 54 strikes each day, according to the aviation administration’s report. Of those strikes, 3.6% caused damage.
Here are some notable episodes when a bird strike was found to have contributed to an aviation accident.
A Boeing 737 Max crash in Ethiopia
The March 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which killed all 157 people on board, happened less than five months after another Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.
Both crashes were attributed in part to a faulty flight control system with the 737 Max, which was temporarily grounded after the Ethiopian Airlines crash.
In that latter crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said in January 2023, a bad sensor reading was caused by an object, most likely a bird. That bad reading activated the flawed flight control system called MCAS, which pitched the nose of the plane downward shortly after the plane left Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, for Nairobi, Kenya, causing the crash.
‘Miracle on the Hudson’
Shortly after a US Airways flight took off from LaGuardia Airport in New York in January 2009, headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, the airplane struck a flock of geese, disabling the plane.
The pilot, Chesley B. Sullenberger III, determined that the safest option was to land in the icy waters of the Hudson River near midtown Manhattan.
The manoeuvre was a success, and all 155 people on board survived the water landing and ensuing evacuation on boats and ferries.
A US Airways jetliner struck by a flock of geese is accompanied by emergency craft and a civilian ferry after its emergency landing in the Hudson River in New York. — ©2024 New York Times Company
A deadly US Air Force crash in Alaska
One of the deadliest aircraft accidents in Air Force history took place on Sept 22, 1995, when 24 Canadian and American airmen were killed after two of their plane’s engines swallowed Canada geese, causing the plane to crash at Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, Alaska.
The plane, an E-3 Sentry surveillance aircraft with the call sign “Yukla 27,” took off just as a flock of geese took flight from the airfield and crossed into the airplane’s path. Two of the engines ingested birds, which caused the plane to make an uncontrollable roll to the left.
A jet struck a flock of pigeons in Ethiopia
An Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed in September 1988, killing 35 of the 104 people on board, after it struck a flock of pigeons as it was taking off from Bahir Dar Airport in northern Ethiopia.
Both engines on the plane, a Boeing 737, had ingested birds, causing problems that required the pilot to make an emergency return to the airport. The plane caught fire during the crash landing in a clearing near the airport.
An Eastern Airlines crash in Boston Harbor
One of the deadliest crashes caused by a bird strike took place on Oct 4, 1960, on an Eastern Airlines flight that left from Logan International Airport in Boston. Of the 72 people on board, 62 died after the plane crashed into Boston Harbor.
The aircraft, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, struck a large flock of starlings immediately after takeoff. Three of the plane’s engines swallowed birds, causing a loss of control of the plane.
After the crash, engineers and regulators came to better understand that birds could pose serious problems for airplanes, leading to the creation of specific standards to make planes more resistant to bird strikes. — ©2024 New York Times Company
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
