 Photo by Peter Brylinke |
A Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit created a stir among passengers when it landed in Tampa with a sizable dent in the nose.
Tampa International Airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said the aircraft collided with a bird. There were no injuries and the pilot did not request emergency vehicles to be on hand when making the landing, she said.
“I may be late for school,” said Peter Brylinke, who was taking the Boeing 757 back to his home in Minneapolis after spending the July 4 weekend in Tampa. “The plane was sitting on the runway with a smashed-in nose. It looked like it crashed into a wall.”
When he saw the dent, Brylinke knew he had to book another flight.
Northwest, of course, is going by the book and offering no conclusions. What else could they have hit?
Was the bird frozen?
that must have hurt the plane… surprised there’s no blood coming out of its nose.
If this was a bird or something I’d be plently worried. With a dent like that you think that the entire plane would have noticed the thump. They only noticed afterwards? If I was flying that thing and I saw the front end get mooshed in, me thinks I would want to be a bit more careful when landing. I read that the nose houses a radar that scans for weather, perhaps time to upgrade their scanning equipment for other things?
Yes Virginia, there is no Santa Claus.
Last bird that hit my nose, I was so surprised that I didn’t feel the pain.
What else could they have hit?
A reindeer?
Could have been worse
http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/n736nc/photo.shtml
That is the definition of a bad maintenance day
3,
Don’t forget the nose is a simple plastic shroud to cover the radar for aerodynamics. the real fuselage is behind that.
No injuries?? How the hell did the bird survive that??!!? How does anyone know for sure?
Looks like they hit a guy sitting on a lawn-chair with a bunch of balloons strapped to it.
Somebody rear ended a airbus. Looks like they washed it before the FAA got there. Probably taking one of their long lunches.
I’m guessing Northwest was experimenting with some secret new way to increase the misery of their passengers. Maybe they found that running planes nose-to-tail makes people feel even more crowded and irritable.
I’m hoping it was the TSA agent who gave me such a hard time last fall.
#8: Don’t forget the nose is a simple plastic shroud to cover the radar for aerodynamics. the real fuselage is behind that.
Thanks for the info smartalix, however it doesn’t make me feel any safer. What else is made of simple plastic I wonder.
I told Superman not to take naps in the clouds.
#14 Did you think aircraft were armored? They are as light as they can be.
14,
Not only that, but the nose must also be transparent to RF. That damage is mostly cosmetic, anyway.
#14 Did you think aircraft were armored? They are as light as they can be.
Civilian aircraft no. Military aircraft maybe yes? I could be wrong, I’m not an aircraft engineer, just a guy that mucks around with computers all day. Seeing things like this does not boost confidence in the airline industry for people like me, I guess that why they are being lowkey about this.
Actually, here is the rest of the story. The pilot found a little note on the windshield. It said this…
“Dear Northwest Airlines,
I accidentally backed in to your plane and put a dent it in. There are people standing here watching me write this note. They think that I am leaving you my contact details so I can pay for the damage. Ha Ha Ha! The joke is on them. Have a crappy day 🙂
~ Anonymous”
Superman had the runs, why do you think he wears his undies on the outside?
I would have thought a bird strike would have left blood. It obviously was not a hummingbird.
Smartalix is correct, the radome is made of composites transparent to microwaves, and is not a structural component of the aircraft. Looks like they might have to replace the radar, though.
No blood? Just a guess, but a few hundred knots through clouds for a while would have removed it.
Here’s one of Boeing contractors:
http://composite.about.com/library/PR/2001/blatp15.htm
#22, exactly. My guess is that the radar was probably still functioning, but potentially at a limited level of function. Most likely the damage happened either on take-off or landing, and if there is any turbulence it wouldn’t have even registered as something wrong.
As far #18 is concerned. I would be happier knowing it could land with the damage, but I would understand if you wouldn’t want to get back on it. In the grand scheme of things, that is minor damage though.
Ah yes… they hit a rock pigeon.
#10 for the win!
“No blood? Just a guess, but a few hundred knots through clouds for a while would have removed it.”
I strongly suspect they’d have avoided flying through clouds because the water would have gotten inside the plane skin and the electronics might have gone out. This would have been bad.
This is just damage to the radome; it’s trivial. Assuming the antenna wasn’t damaged behind the radome the only loss is a new “plastic” radome and higher fuel costs due to the added drag. A radome is not cheap, but a lot cheaper than many parts on a jet.
In hail storms and other bird impacts, if in fact this was a bird impact, the whole radome was lost on numerous aircraft. none resulted in an unsafe condition.
#26 As for water getting into the “electronics”; in front of the bulkhead is only the weather radar antenna It consists of a wave guide and a few servo motors whose wires along with the waveguide extends through the structural bulkhead. The area behind the radome but in front of the bulkhead is unpressurized.
Just be glad the bird did not damage an engine or the windscreen, The windscreen is quite well “armored” even on a commercial jet. But the right impact at the right time can do significant damage. The trick is to design it so it doesn’t cause a catastrophic failure.
Musta hit BIG-BIRD !!! Oh, the Humanity !!!
Enough with the bird jokes, silly humans!
Birds and noses don’t mix
http://cache.consumerist.com/consumer/images/fabiogoose.jpg