Small Birds Great Danger

On November 10, 2008, the final report of the Boeing B737-800 passenger plane with tail number EI-DYG belonging to Ryanair airline company, while landing in Rome, was published by the Italian accident investigation agency ANSV on 20 December 2018.

As the plane was landing at Ciampino airport in Rome, it collided with a large flock of starlings. Starlings are small birds, weighing between 40 grams and 140 grams. A flock of thousands of small birds can move in the sky as if it were a single creature, with the synchronized movements of the birds in it. During the landing where the accident took place, the pilots, who saw the flock of birds in front of them, decided to pass and gave gas to the plane's engine, while dozens of birds began to crash into the plane. It was as if hailstones were hitting the plane. Due to the birds hitting the engine, the engine speed dropped from 62% to 41%, and the passenger plane, which had 172 people on board, could not hold on and hit the runway with its main landing gear and the lower part of its rear fuselage, near the middle of the runway, with its nose upright. Due to this impact, which can be called a stall, the left landing gear folded and the hood of the left engine rubbed on the ground.

After this incident, in which eight people were slightly injured, the investigators determined that a total of 86 birds hit the aircraft in the radome, fore fuselage, wing leading edges, under flaps, engine nacelles and landing gear areas. The 86 birds that crashed into the plane did not cause a stall event. The real misfortune was that a large number of birds got into the plane's engines. There were 55 bird impact points in the fan section of the number 1 engine of the aircraft, and 30 bird strike points in the fan section of the number 2 engine.

Accident investigators concluded that the aircraft crashed into the runway uncontrollably due to the loss of engine power during the missed approach. In addition to the fact that the airport administration did not carry out an effective fight against bird flocks in the occurrence of the accident; It has also been determined that the decision of the pilots to pass only 7 seconds before they touch the runway has an effect.

According to the report, if the aircraft collided with one or more birds during landing, it would be the best procedure for the captains to turn the engines on as low as possible and continue the descent. Birds entering a high-speed engine, such as during a go-around, can cause much more damage to the engine. Moreover, in this case, even if the plane took off, it would be impossible for the plane to land on the runway.

ANSV emphasized that the pilots were not prepared for this scenario in the training they received, and specifically requested that their training be strengthened in the critical phases of the flight, such as approach and landing.

ANSV also stated that the preparation of the final report took 10 years due to the staff shortage due to the retirement of its staff.