While the exact cause of the tragic plane crash in South Korea that resulted in the deaths of 179 people remains unclear, there are emerging questions about whether a bird strike — an increasingly common occurrence for planes around the world — could be responsible.
According to South Korean officials, the control tower at Muan International Airport issued a bird warning to the plane shortly before its intended landing on Sunday. Investigators are actively looking into the crash and its possible causes.
Thanks to stringent tests that planes undergo during construction, they frequently withstand bird strikes. But these events cost airlines millions of dollars in damages annually, and though rare, they can also result in injuries and fatalities.
Don't fear, bird strikes are strikingly common
Essentially, pilots see bird strikes, which occur when a bird collides with a plane's engine, cockpit window, or nose, every day in the United States, said Shawn Pruchnicki, a professor at the Center for Aviation Studies and Integrated Systems Engineering at the Ohio State University. "When I was an airline pilot, we hit birds all the time," especially the small birds like cardinals, robins and sparrows.
Despite their frequency, plane collisions with birds and other wildlife are becoming a growing concern for aviation safety, according to a report published this year by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services. The report examined a 34-year period of bird and other wildlife strikes on planes from 1990 to 2023.
Researchers like Pruchnicki are working to better understand this phenomenon and its risks to aviation safety.
Here are some statistics that shed light on the prevalence of bird and wildlife strikes:
- FAA Wildlife Strike Database indicates there were about 19,400 strikes at 713 U.S. airports in 2023. About 236 strikes occurred at 92 airports in 55 countries in 2023, according to the FAA's data.
- Worldwide, wildlife strikes, (which include birds, deer and other animals) with civilian and military aircraft have killed more than 491 people and destroyed more than 350 planes from 1988 to 2023.
- In just the U.S., wildlife strikes have killed 76 people and destroyed 126 planes during that same timeframe.
- The FAA says about 61% of bird strikes with civil aircraft occur during landing phases; 36% occur during take-off and climb; and the remaining (3%) occur during flight.
Serious damage can cost millions
Commercial jet engines are required by the FAA to be carefully designed and tested to continue to operate even when birds are sucked into them.
However, issues can arise when larger birds collide with a plane, according to Pruchnicki.
A notable incident involved Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who had to land his US Airways jet in the Hudson River in 2009 after hitting a flock of geese, which resulted in the failure of both engines. Fortunately, everyone on board survived. This incident highlighted the serious nature of bird strikes to the general public, Pruchnicki said.
A full-sized Canada goose can weigh up to 14 pounds. When such a bird hits a plane at high speeds — up to 350 miles per hour — the impact can be likened to a bowling ball colliding with a window. And that kind of damage gets expensive, fast, Pruchnicki said.
The damages from bird strikes in the U.S. from 1990 to 2019 are estimated to cost as high as $500 million per year, according to the FAA.
Damage to a plane's engine, wing, nose, or windshield is not usually life-threatening. In most cases, the plane is still able to land safely. But once landed, that airplane may remain out of service for weeks while undergoing expensive repairs, Pruchnicki said. For example, a cracked cockpit window can easily cost up to $90,000 to repair. A dented wing? Maybe half a million dollars, he said.
"An airplane that's in maintenance isn't making money, right? So it takes weeks to finish, millions and millions of dollars to repair. That's a huge problem" for airlines, he said.
According to the report published by the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services in March 2023, two turkey vultures collided with a B-737 Max 8 departing Jose Marti International Airport out of Cuba. The collision damaged the plane's radome and forced one of its engines to shut down. The pilots made an emergency landing, passengers were evacuated and later rebooked, and the plane was taken out of service. Total repair costs? An estimated $14.5 million.
Efforts to understand, and prevent, bird strikes are ongoing
Many airports are built near waterways and landfills, Pruchnicki notes, so naturally this leads to collisions between nature and planes.
"We're kind of invading their space," he said.
Since the "Miracle on the Hudson" in 2009, the U.S. government has dedicated tens of millions of dollars to airports to invest in wildlife hazard programs and for research into detection and monitoring systems for wildlife strikes.
Airports have tried a host of techniques, such as lasers and cannons, to scare birds and other wildlife away with varying degrees of success.
Pruchnicki, for his part, said he is currently conducting research for the FAA to analyze the effectiveness of avian radar in preventing bird strikes at airports. The use of this kind of equipment, which detects and tracks birds in the vicinity of airports, is not currently mandated by the FAA.
Pruchnicki said, "The idea is to try to figure out, how can we coexist?"
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