Can’t airplanes be equipped with bird whistles, like deer whistles
January 16th, 2009 at 02:05pm Georgette Braun
Yesterday’s jet landing in the Hudson, caused perhaps by the plane hitting birds, makes me wonder if planes can’t be equipped with whistles that scare birds away, kind of like deer whistles on cars.
My brother has deer whistles on his vehicles, and he’s never hit a deer. Do they really work as well as he thinks they do?
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6 Comments Add your own
1. hokumboy | January 16th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
I’ve been driving for 45 years, have had NO deer whistles on my cars, and have never hit a deer. Bad analogy.
Don’t you think the unbelieveably loud roar of the jet engines would scare away birds more than a whistle?
2. Georgette Braun | January 19th, 2009 at 8:24 am
how bout a piercingly loud whistle?
i’ve read that plane engines are quieter these days, so that birds have become a bigger threat for getting caught in the engines
3. hokumboy | January 19th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Sure, I suppose. If it’s really, really loud. I’m not sure. I’ll ask the airline worker in the family.
I’d think the birds would kinda notice a huge plane like those flying in their path. But,,, there must be some validity to the use of the term “bird brain”.
4. Georgette Braun | January 19th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
punny
5. hokumboy | January 19th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Geo,
this is the answer from my family airplane maintenance guy:
Great question!
I don’t think whistles would do any good. The aircraft themselves are ungodly loud; especially at take off when the power is up. The whistles would have to be ten times louder than a freight train horn if it was to be heard at all. Also, at that point the aircraft is moving at 300mph or more. That’s almost half the speed of sound, so the plane is on top of the birds about the same time they would hear it..if at all. Above all, birds seem really stupid.
Airports spend a lot of money each year trying to control the bird populations in and around the airfield. Even so, bird strikes happen. I’ve seen a lot of engines that have ingested birds, and they rarely flame out. They’re engineered to take a beating. Having both engine hit and flaming out is incredibly rare. I’ll try and scrounge up some pics I have of aircraft damage due to bird strikes and fwd to you.
It’s pretty amazing how much damage a sparrow can cause….not to mention a duck or a goose!
6. Georgette Braun | January 22nd, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Hoke: As usual, thanks for obtaining and passing along the insider-type info.
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