Bird strikes a significant threat to flight safety
In aviation, a bird strike—also referred to as a birdstrike, bird hit, avian ingestion, or bird aircraft strike hazard, or BASH—happens when an airborne bird or bat collides with a flying aircraft. Most accidents occur when the bird hits the windscreen or flies into the engines, such as the dramatic crash landing of an US Airways Airbus A320, Flight 1549, into the Hudson River in January, 2009.
The FAA has recently reported significant increases in reported bird-plane and bird-aircraft collisions in the U.S.1 Bird strikes or wildlife strikes are difficult to predict, often have devastating effects and seriously impact American air safety.
Mitigating weather and wildlife hazards
Although aerospace and aviation technology allows aircraft to avoid a great many storms and other dangers, wildlife impacts and hail still cause millions of dollars in plane crashes and aircraft property damage—not to mention the danger to human life. Bird strikes cause annual damages that have been estimated at $400 million within the United States of America alone and up to $1.2 billion to commercial aircraft worldwide
Element's bird strike impact testing capabilities
Element's bird strike impact testing facility simulates the effects of an airborne bird strike and the resulting damage to aircraft products and components. Experts in our bird strike lab simulate a strike using a specially-made cannon that can launch birds of weights of up to 6.5 pounds. High-speed video of your test is available for your records.
1FAA Wildlife Strike Database