Nose Area (radome) Badly Damaged by Bird-hit ~ Not an Angry Bird !!
Posted on the 01 May 2019 by Sampathkumar Sampath
An
aeroplane continues to be a marvel – many of us still look to sky on hearing
the sound ~nearer Airports, you could find people standing to watch the flight
descending or take off.
The aluminium
flying bird is of complex design – the primary factors in aircraft structures are strength, weight, and
reliability. These factors determine the requirements to be met by any material
used to construct or repair the aircraft. Airframes have to be strong and light in weight. The most common metals used in aircraft
construction are aluminum, magnesium, titanium, steel, and their alloys. Earlier aluminum was widely used in subsonic
aircraft. Currently a greater amount of
titanium is incorporated in to aircraft. This is connected with the fact that
the share of the composite materials with which aluminum intensively interacts
and corrodes in the new airplanes is being increased. Titanium is not subjected
to these processes and results in increasing the life of components.
~- ~ You are given
a slingshot to fire your angry birds at pigs who are placed within different
variant structures (such as wood, ice
and stone) which progressively get harder and retrieve the eggs that those
pesky pigs stole!.... as you advance, you get chance to use varied birds with
special abilities. A blue bird when
clicked will split into 3 – there are birds which will explode – some which can
drop explosive eggs … there are smaller and larger pigs – the challenge is to
destroy all pigs with the available birds – if you use less, you get bonus
points … some pigs wear helmets as armour, making them even more resistant to
damage, while pigs with crowns can take the most damage. It is the popular ‘Angry Birds’, a strategy game
developed by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Mobile – and that is ‘bird hit !’
Even though, large commercial aircrafts are certified to be able to withstand the
impact of most, we often hear about
bird-hits damaging planes. Birds
represent a serious threat at many
airports. Not all cause serious damage
to aircraft hull. According to Birdstrike Committee USA, bird
and other wildlife strikes to aircraft result in over $600 million in damage to
US civil and military aviation each year. The lives of the crew and passengers
are also at risk. Bird strikes most
often occur during take-off or landing, or during low altitude flight, when an
airplane is most likely to be sharing the same airspace as a bird.
Take-offs can be
particularly dangerous, given the higher speeds and the angle of ascent. If a
bird gets caught in an engine during take-off it can greatly affect the
functionality of the engine. Apart from
damage, in Dec 2014 Jet Airways flight from Mumbai to Kathmandu had to make an emergency landing after a bird hit damaged its
left wing, causing sparks.
By seeing it, have
perceived the aircraft hull to be strong – here is something read in MailOnline
on how aircraft’s nose collapsed after bird flew into Turkish Airlines plane
carrying 125 passengers ~and the photos of damage look incredible.
The Turkish
Airlines flight from Istanbul to Nevşehir in Turkey was on approach to land
when it was involved in a severe hit with an unlucky bird. There were 125
passengers on board the Boeing 737-800, and there were not believed to be any
injuries suffered on the landing on Tuesday.
By the impact with the bird, the nose cone was flattened. The extent of the damage has surprised many
after the photos were posted on Twitter.
The pilot relayed the incident to air traffic control, and two other
flights scheduled to land had to abort and perform a go-around.
The
nose cone, splattered with blood, showed extensive damage, and the aircraft was
towed to a hangar for maintenance. As
the photos were shared on Twitter by @Flight-Report, users expressed their
shock at the level of damage on the aircraft. One wrote:
'This is a donkey strike not a bird strike,' while @annispice asked the
question: 'What was it a pterodactyl!'
another queried – was it a dragon ?
A spokesperson for
Turkish Airlines told MailOnline Travel: 'The damage of the nose area (radome)
by bird hit is a common incident on civil aeronautical operations. 'The radome area of a plane is constructed by
soft materials (composit) to minimalize the impact of such hits. 'Therefore,
such standard/normal deformation occurs as a natural result of such incidents. 'One
can also state that the critical bird hits in aviation is the ones that occur
on the engine area. Any other area of the aircraft than the engine area, such
as radome, wings, hull, do not pose a risk when hit by a bird.'
Despite
the bird-strike, the plane landed safely on the runway and there are not
thought to be any injuries to the 145 passengers on board.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
7th May
2015.