Safety Topics

PUBLISHED by the CAA is an analysis of bird strikes reported world‐wide between 1976 and 1980 by European airlines from 14 countries. It includes civil aircraft of over 5,700kg (12,500lb) maximum weight, except that all executive jets including those of less than 5,700kg have been included. The birds involved were identified in 50% of the incidents, with gulls accounting for something under half of these with the next most frequently struck bird being the lapwing, followed by swallows and martins. The most frequently struck part of an aircraft was the nose and radome, followed by the fuselage and the engines, while the tail area was very rarely struck. It is noteworthy that the size of bird involved influences these percentages since small birds (below ¼lb) are rarely reported as striking the engines, wing or landing gear, but are more frequently reported on the nose and windshield.