Can a bird strike down a passenger plane? Potentially fatal incidents could become MORE frequent, expert warns – as South Korean airliner joins list of tragic mid-air collisions that have claimed hundreds of lives and downed dozens of aircraft
Potentially fatal bird strikes in the sky and rare ‘black swan’ events that could bring down a passenger plane could become more common, aviation experts fear.
It comes after a jetliner in South Korea made an emergency landing on its belly before skidding off the runway and exploding, killing all but two of the 181 people on board, minutes after a bird strike was reported.
Doomed Jeju Air Flight 2216 from Bangkok, Thailandto Muan International Airport, exploded when it hit a brick wall on Sunday, in South Korea’s deadliest plane crash ever.
The early theory was that the birds’ impact on the plane led to the failure of the engine driving the landing gear, which in turn caused the fatal belly landing.
However, Tim Davies, a former RAF Tornado fighter pilot, was skeptical that this was the sole cause of the tragedy and feared ‘pilot error’ could have contributed to the disaster.
“He left the runway at more than 100 knots, you will only experience death there,” the aviation expert said.
‘If he had landed at the beginning of the runway he might have been able to travel more slowly. But I’m afraid he came in at too much speed and landed in the middle of the runway, preventing him from slowing down in time.
“It’s a fairly common emergency that should have been addressed. And the fact that that was not the case probably has to do with the pilot.’
Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 goes up in flames after hitting a wall after crashing after landing at Muan International Airport
People are pictured in the photo of the wreckage of a plane that lay on the ground after it went off the runway and crashed at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, December 30
An unverified video recording from the Jeju Air plane shows a burst of fire coming from the plane’s right engine, believed to be the moment the bird struck
And in a shocking twist of fate, a Canadian Airlines plane suffered a similar disaster later that day, with a bird strike believed to have damaged the landing gear controls.
It made an emergency landing, causing a wing to scrape the runway at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, Nova Scotia, Canada, before a fire broke out. Wonderful. none of the 80 people on board were seriously injured.
The accidents occur in the context of an increase in the number of bird strike incidents, with about 19,400 collisions recorded in the U.S. last year by the Federal Aviation Administration, compared to 17,200 in 2022.
And there were 1,400 bird strikes in Britain in 2022, of which only around 100 affected aircraft, according to Civil Aviation Authority data.
Fatal disasters due to bird strikes are rare, but not unheard of.
In October 1960, a flock of starlings caused a fatal plane crash in Boston Harbor after crashing into Eastern Airlines Flight 375 shortly after it took off from Logan International Airport.
The attack caused extensive damage to the aircraft, destroying one propeller engine and causing two others to temporarily lose thrust.
In just 20 seconds, the plane lost control and plunged into the water, killing 62 of the 72 people on board – in what has been called America’s worst bird strike disaster.
Black smoke billows from Jeju Air plane flight 7C2216 as it deviates from the runway before crashing at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea
A similar incident was blamed for the destruction of a US$180 million US surveillance aircraft, which crashed and caught fire in 1995. when it plowed into a forest shortly after takeoff at Elmendorf Air Force Base, just north of Anchorage.
And in January 2009, New Yorkers watched in horror as a passenger plane crashed into the Hudson River after hitting a flock of Canada geese seconds after takeoff, destroying both engines.
Miraculously, pilots Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and co-Captain Jeff Skiles managed to land safely in the river, saving the lives of all 155 people on board.
Their close contact was that Death was later turned into a Hollywood film starring Oscar winner Tom Hanks as Captain Sully.
Air Vice Marshal Gary Waterfall, a former commander in the RAF, stressed that despite being “oddities” in the South Korean plane crash, such fatal events are mercifully rare.
“With this ‘black swan’ there are always events like Captain Sulley’s crash in the Hudson,” the former Red Arrows pilot said.
“The chances of this happening are infinitesimally small, but it’s still a possibility – about the same chance as you or me winning the lottery, to be honest.
Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenberger and co-captain Jeff Skiles rescued all 155 people aboard Flight 1549 when both engines blew out after hitting Canada geese
Tuesday, January 15 marks 10 years since US Airways Flight 1549 landed on the Hudson River after colliding with a flock of geese shortly after takeoff
Pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger managed to land his stricken plane safely in the Hudson River after a bird strike knocked out both engines shortly after takeoff
“What we’ve ultimately seen over the last seven days is just an incredible amount of bad luck and timing.”
Passenger planes undergo intensive safety checks, with engines tested for their ability to withstand bird strikes.
Airplanes are designed for single-engine takeoff, with pilots normally returning to an airport after reporting a bird strike.
Air Vice Marshal Gary Waterfall said safety has improved dramatically over the last 20 to 30 years, adding: ‘It’s really rare. We have now made it as safe as possible. It’s such a rare event that it inevitably makes the news.
‘Crossing the road is much more dangerous than flying an airplane. I wouldn’t mind getting on a plane tomorrow.’
Retired squadron leader Davies agreed, saying it was ‘incredibly rare’ for planes to suffer a ‘terminal impact’ after flying into a flock of birds.
He said strikes have the potential to disable both engines and there is a lot of kinetic energy that could result in critical hydraulic systems being damaged.
The photo shows the remains of the plane in which all but two of the plane’s 181 occupants died
But he added: ‘Engines are designed to absorb bird strikes and still run or shut down. It’s not a terminal thing.
‘It is incredibly rare for a bird strike to occur with a twin engine. But when it happens, you don’t just fall out of the sky, you can still float.
‘I suffer from bird strikes all the time. I got them every three or four months. It was a non-event. The Tornado was a warplane, so things were constantly bouncing off it.
‘I had a friend who hit a bird far out to sea. He had to drop his fuel tanks and return home. But all pilots are trained in dealing with bird strikes.
“Yes, they can damage a jet – you’re flying 400-500 knots, so there’s a lot of kinetic energy in there, which can destroy the engine or damage the hydraulics.”
In 2019, a Russian passenger plane had to make an emergency landing in a corn field near Moscow after striking a flock of birds.
At least 74 people were injured in the incident, which saw the plane land on its belly with the engines off and the landing gear retracted.
The Ural Airlines Airbus 321 was en route to Simferopol in Crimea when it struck a flock of seagulls shortly after takeoff, causing the engines to fail.
State media have dubbed the landing the “miracle over Ramensk.”
And in 2010, a Ryanair plane with 166 passengers on board crashed at Rome’s Ciampino airport after a ‘large number’ of birds were sucked into its engines.
Two cabin crew and eight passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries after the Boeing 737-800 collided with the runway and came to a stop.
Ryanair claimed that flight FR4102 from Frankfurt suffered ‘multiple bird strikes’ in both engines as it approached Ciampino airport.