It’s a bird; it’s a plane…it’s time to get serious about birdstrikes

I’m hoping that the next time Discovery Channel decides to do a special on Crashes that Changed Flying–and asks for my opinion–I’ll be able to point to Cap

By John Goglia • Writer

June 30, 2009

I’m hoping that the next time Discovery Channel decides to do a special on Crashes that Changed Flying–and asks for my opinion–I’ll be able to point to Captain Sully’s landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the frigid waters of the Hudson River this past January as the accident that finally got something done about the dangers of birdstrikes.

I’ve sounded the alarm on birdstrikes for years. For me, the potential hazard was a highly personal one. As a teenager living under the flight path to Boston Logan International Airport, I witnessed the aftermath of an Eastern Airlines Electra that crashed on takeoff after hitting a flock of birds. Scores of people were killed. At the time, I was a young scuba diver learning from the instructor who happened to be training the Massachusetts State Police diving unit; I was pressed into the recovery effort. Needless to say, the grim recovery of the victims’ bodies is indelibly etched in my mind, as is the cause of the accident.

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