A bird strike or bird ingestion or bird aircraft strike hazard (BASH)—is a collision between an airborne animal and a manmade vehicle, especially an aircraft. The term is also used for bird deaths resulting from collisions with structures such as power lines, towers and wind turbines
In the Video below An Air Force flight instructor and his student are flying at 400 miles per hour just above Randolph Air Force Base when they’re struck by a bird. A frantic struggle ensues as they try to regain control.
Bird strikes are a significant threat to flight safety, and have caused a number of accidents with human casualties.
There are over 13,000 bird strikes annually in the US alone. However, the number of major accidents involving civil aircraft is quite low and it has been estimated that there is only about 1 accident resulting in human death in one billion (109) flying hours.
The majority of bird strikes (65%) cause little damage to the aircraft;[6] however the collision is usually fatal to the bird(s) involved.
