Bird strike went unreported

The incident involving an EasyJet Boeing 737 in a bird strike was widely reported by the national press and television, but I saw no mention of it in Flight International.

From scanning recent accident reports it seems that bird strike incidents are unusual and in-flight shutdown even more rare.

In this case I believe the engine was shutdown, the flight aborted and the aircraft returned to base.

As is usually the case with the national press, stories are a one day wonder, so interested parties rely on magazines like Flight International to get the compete story.

D Newland

Editor's note: Birdstrikes are frequent occurrences. India, which has the worst bird problem, records more than 50 a day. Most events cause damage rather than accidents, but the worst cause crashes. The situation was summarised recently in our issue 1-7 January, P10. Any serious birdstrikes are recorded in Flight International's world airline safety review.

Source: Flight International