Last week, aAirbus A320it crash landed in the icy waters of New York’s Hudson River. The accident, which did not claim victims, was caused by theimpact with a flock of birds. The authorities believe that it iscanadian geese (Branta canadensis interior), which can weigh up to 5.4 kilograms each. so a collision with one of these animals can generate a force equivalent to that of a 455 kilogram object thrown from a height of three meters.
Carla Dove of the Smithsonian Institution at the United States Museum of Natural History will confirm the identity of the birds. He has plenty of experience, since every time an American airline detects bird remains on the fuselage of its aircraft, it sends them to its laboratory, where it receives an average of 4,000 samples per year. Dove and his team are true high-flying CSIs and can determine with a simple feather, even a fragment, which species died when it hit the aircraft. “We won’t be able to solve the problem if we don’t know what species causes it,” explains Dove. “We try to improve air traffic safety, but we also want to help birds,” he adds.
After all, these impacts have become a worrying security problem. From 1990 to 2007, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) received nearly 76,000 reports of bird strikes, although very few caused serious damage to aircraft.
But what makes a bird pounce on a metal bird? The explanation could be in theartificial light reflectionsthat generate lan cover of the planes, according to a study published in the latest issue of the journalFrontiers in Ecology and the Environment. According to its authors, more than 300 species use thepolarized lightas the main reference for navigation. And often, animals, including birds and insects, “mistake artificial surfaces with polarized light, such as asphalt, vehicles, plastic or window glass, for water.”
