We have identified the culprits and now we need to do some more data crunching to figure out how to use this information. Canadian geese brought down an American commercial airliner on January 15, 2009. A flagrant disregard for in flight navigation and ATC instructions for safety in the Terminal area. The geese,two female and one male,were cruising at approximately 2,900 feet when their flight was disrupted by the two engines of the Airbus 320. According to Smithsonian institution scientists, these geese were the vagabond, transient type of goose. Not the local population that inhabit the flight path around the Hudson River. I am so happy this incursion did not involve the local goose.....lakotahope
____________
On Monday, the eve of a three-day National Transportation Safety Board hearing into the crash, the Smithsonian announced that sophisticated scientific techniques allowed them to conclude that the Flight 1549 birds were Canada geese from Labrador, Canada, and were significantly different from geese in New York City. Museum scientists said molecular study of feathers found in the engines leads them to believe the birds had probably nested in Labrador in the summer of 2008 and migrated to the New York region for the winter. On the day of the crash, Smithsonian wildlife biologist Peter Marra said, the ground was covered with snow, and the flock was probably on a short flight south looking for clear ground or water on which to forage for food.
Canada geese (Branta canadensis) are "essentially flying cows," Marra said, given their unrelenting quest for food.
The migratory birds are among the largest species of bird in North America, with an estimated weight of about 8 pounds each. The determination that the birds were the 8-pound variety and not the 4-pound Brant geese is likely to comfort jet engine designers, since the engines are designed to survive strikes from 4-pound birds.....cnn.com
No comments:
Post a Comment