Duck DNA in both engines of Jeju Air plane that crashed, report says

Jet engines can handle a few birds being ingested. Hitting an entire flock - that's a different story. That crash on the Hudson River in NY was caused when both engines were destroyed after flying through an entire flock of birds. BTW, that was an A320.

The standard requirement for engine testing is 4 lbs of bird shouldn't cause catastrophic failure to the plane. The engine could have anywhere from ZERO damage to needing to be shutdown requiring the other engine to keep the plane flying.

According to the FAA, about 26 bird strikes happen daily, so it isn't THAT uncommon. Generally, the bird is ingested and the plane keeps going with zero damage.. In bad situations, the bird(s) cause an engine to fail, explode and the pilots will request priority landing at the closest airport on the other, working, engine. It is extremely uncommon for a bird to bring down a commercial airliner. The cowlings around the engine are engineered to hold any explosion debris, preventing damage outside or to the aircraft fuselage.

When they do the bird strike tests, there's always a joke to be certain to defrost the bird(s) first ... er ... so I've heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLy2QN4NAvo - chicken thrown into jet engine. I'm not certain I believe some of the statements in this video - like saying RR has been manufacturing jet engines for over 100 yrs when RR began "manufacturing" jet engines in 1944, so ... about 70 yrs ago.

They also test airplane windshields for bird strikes. There's a "bird cannon" for those tests. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp7uLTNiGrQ The bird is going so fast that our eyes don't see it hit.

The report does not say what may have led to the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) to stop recording simultaneously just before the pilots declared the emergency.

Migratory ducks are surely capable of that in this Boeing mass casualty event.

We'll have to wait to see why the undercarriage wasn't deployed.

What really increased the deadliness was the explosion after the plane slammed into a concrete barrier at the end of the runway.

They forgot to lower the landing gear. When they realized their error, they decided to try to take off again. This is why they were still going 160km/h when they hit the concrete wall.

and why flight data recorders stopped recording in the final four minutes

They didn't; it's just that the South Korean authorities want to keep everything a secret.

"Duck DNA in both engines of Jeju Air plane that crashed, report says."

What a bad luck! With both engines failing.

What a bad luck! With both engines failing.

As the article mentions Baikal Teals form huge flocks, so it is reasonable to expect that if the airplane flew into one both engines could be involved.

https://www.grida.no/resources/4368

"As the article mentions Baikal Teals form huge flocks, so it is reasonable to expect that if the airplane flew into one both engines could be involved."

I get your point, but don't forget this was not the only plane using that airport.

This is terrible news.

From Dec. 29, 2024  05:18 pm JSTPosted in: Plane bursts into flames after veering off runway at airport in S Korea, killing 179  See in context

My Korean co-worker said it was a bird strike causing utter failure. Again tragic. Very sad and heartbreaking.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Enough said. A duck is a bird. And they fly in flocks. 179 gone. May they find peace.

Both engines did not fail. It is clear from post crash photos that while the starboard engine #1 fan blades were badly damaged by the bird strike with damage also where the #1 generator is located, the port engine #2's fan blades were all intact and undamaged despite also ingesting birds. This means #1 probably almost suffered a failure from the damage, #2 probably only suffered a compressor stall, which isn't catastrophic and is completely recoverable. The plane also climbed from its altitude at the time of the bird strikes while attempting their go around so they clearly had good thrust in at least one of their engines, most likely engine #2. Since it's visible in the videos of the landing on the runway that engine #1 was still running while engine #1 was not, the most likely scenarios is the plane lost all engine generated power, and as a result the FDR and CVR, when the pilots erroneously shutdown the one good engine they had, #2, during the go-around when they meant to shut down the badly damaged #1, and didn't have time to start the APU. It's also come to light that Jeju Air pilots are trained to continue and complete the approach and land immediately if they experience a bird strike in the landing sequence and aircraft configuration this plane was in at the time of the bird strikes, so it's a mystery why the pilot in command chose to abort the approach for a go-around and why the co-pilot didn't challenge his decision.

I get your point, but don't forget this was not the only plane using that airport.

Then you are not getting the point, airplanes take care of not entering flocks in the first place, but when they do it is understandable it will involve all engines without needing luck, it is not like it will average between planes.

and why the co-pilot didn't challenge his decision.

A common issue for Korean and Japanese airlines due to a steep cockpit gradient. Heaven forbid someone junior calls out their "senpai"!