As bird strikes go, this one had to be a doozy.
Late Tuesday night, American Airlines flight 1855 from Chicago to Kansas City flew through birds on approach, about 7 and a half miles from the runway. The pilots declared an emergency and Kansas City airport fire and rescue trucks hurried into position.
The pilots landed safely and there were no injuries to passengers or crew.
Looking at the damage though, which extends across the front of the aircraft, it appears the engine cowling took the brunt of the impact on the right along with the radome while birds created craters on the leading edge of the left wing.
Flying into birds is not uncommon. But they can get tricky because they are more common close to the ground; during takeoff or landing. Less altitude below means less time to recover.
I am reminded of the joke about how an airline pilot assesses the job. “Years of boredom punctuated by moments of terror.” In a few compressed seconds on Tuesday, the flyers in the cockpit of Flight 1855 earned their paychecks. It will take mechanics longer to get the airplane back in the air.
This video, plucked from Twitter today shows what it looks like when a big plane flies through birds. According to the person who posted it, the B-52 returned to base.
Source -https://christinenegroni.com