An American Airlines jet nearly suffered a disaster Sept. 16 from birds being sucked into one of its engines, setting it afire. Fortunately the pilot was able to land safely. Each year, thousands of bird strikes are reported. Bird vs. propeller blade is daunting enough; but bird vs. the only jet engine a small plane may be equipped with spells tragedy.
Question: Why haven’t all jet engine intakes been equipped with slightly domed, industrial-strength screens to prevent such potential bird-plane disasters? Seems like a no-brainer. The cost ought to be less than the $500 million a year that bird strikes are now costing the industry, and certainly less than a crash tragedy.
It seems that once again our occasionally somnolent Federal Aviation Administration is behind the curve in its watchdog function, not anticipating this opportunity for such a loss-prevention and safety assurance mandate, or disregarding it, despite the thousands of episodes a year that ought to have riveted its attention.
