Why Bird Strikes Pose a Big Threat to Aircraft? Understand each point

New Delhi: After the devastating aircraft crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday, discussions have started once again about bird hit. Bird hit is a big threat for any plane. Bird hit can lead to failure of the aircraft's engine or even breakage of the front glass. The aircraft's control system can get damaged or the weather radar can get damaged. A lot of work has been done in the last few years to deal with bird hit, but this threat still persists in the sky.

What happens on bird hit?

While talking to media, Captain Rohit Kadyan told that as soon as a bird hits an aircraft, two things can happen due to it, either the engine can get damaged or some other part of the aircraft can get damaged. If the bird hits the engine, then the compressor blades in the engine, which are made of titanium, get internal damage due to the hit. There are many stages in the compressor, about seven to eight. So the damage to the blades keeps increasing continuously, due to which the performance of the engine starts coming down gradually.
In the case of bird hit, it has been seen that the engine surges, meaning the flow of air in it starts reversing. Due to which the temperature of the engine starts increasing. This poses a risk of fire. Whenever a bird hits, there is a high risk of fire in the engine. Slowly the engine stops working.

Many dangers from bird hit

He told that if a bird hits any other part of the aircraft, then the aerodynamic handling character of the aircraft changes. If the bird hits the flight control, then its control capability can be affected and the aircraft can go out of control. The windshield can also be break, the front air glass can break and if it hits the nose of the aircraft, it can damage the weather radar. Rohit Kadyan has also been a pilot in the Indian Air Force. He told that once a bird hit the control of my aircraft, then my aircraft was continuously turning left. Somehow it was made to do an emergency landing. Once the engine of the fighter jet failed due to bird hit.

Continuous efforts to protect

Many measures are taken to avoid bird hits at every airfield. Vegetation is not allowed to grow, it is cleaned from time to time. There is an ornithology team at every airfield. This team studies birds. They see what is the pattern of birds, at what time they fly, they study their entire pattern. They do not allow garbage to be dumped around the airfield. Also, there are drummers who roam on both sides of the runway and play drums so that birds can be chased away. There is a runway controller hut from which they keep monitoring the takeoff and landing route, so that there is no bird hit at the time of landing or takeoff.

Many cases of bird hit

It was told in Parliament in December 2023 that there were 462 incidents of bird hit in Gujarat in the last five years, most of which occurred at Ahmedabad Airport. According to the data of the Airport Authority, there were 38 bird hit incidents in Ahmedabad in the year 2022–23, which is 35 per cent more than the previous year. Many time it is seen that Indian Air Force aircraft have also been affected of bird hit. According to a study, 8 to 10 per cent of the accidents of fighter aircraft have been due to bird hit. The Indian Air Force has reported 504 incidents of bird hits from April 2011 to March 2014. Exact figures after that are not available, but in 2019, the engine of a Jaguar fighter jet failed due to bird hit. After which it had to drop its additional fuel tank and make an emergency landing.