Bird Strike Committee Proceedings
Date of this Version
August 2000
Abstract
The ability of modern jet engines to ingest birds and continue to operate is largely misunderstood or not contemplated at all in the aviation industry. Currently, there is not one jet engine operating in the world that is certified to ingest one large bird (goose, swan, stork, pelican, vulture, etc) and continue to operate. The effort to harmonize bird ingestion rules between the FAA and JAA has failed. Controversy erupted in recent certification meetings regarding the database being used to certify engines. Additionally, should only rotating engine parts meet certain standards, or all engine parts exposed to impact meet standards? None of the work done by or papers presented to IBSC regarding bird ingestion are used in developing certification standards. Flightcrew members do not know, nor are they required to know, how fragile their engines are. Airport bird control personnel cannot appreciate the importance of their work unless they understand the small number of birds the engines can ingest and continue to operate. The industry needs education on the importance of strike avoidance due to the thin safety margin provided by engine ingestion standards.