Watch: US Military Plane Carrying Head of National Guard Slams Into Flock of Birds Taking Off from Chicago
A National Guard jet had a close encounter of the highly dangerous kind recently near Chicago’s Midway airport on Monday.
Video of the incident posted to CNN and social media shows the plane flying into a flock of birds not long after it took off.
The plane returned to the airport after the incident.
According to WGN-TV, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the jet struck a bird in flight.
A military plane out of Chicago was taking off from Midway Airport when it hit a flock of birds and was forced to return.
General Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard, was on board.
No injuries were reported. pic.twitter.com/szN8Kf97uI
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 23, 2022
The report said that the C-37 landed safely.
No one was injured in the 5 p.m. incident.
Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard, was aboard the plane at the time.
A Facebook post by the Illinois National Guard said Hokanson was in Chicago to promote partnerships between the Guard and employers in the area of workforce development.
Our Armed Forces should be representative of our communities. The Guard is in almost every ZIP code — just like we’re here in the 77 Chicago communities. Our people are our greatest strength. (2/2) pic.twitter.com/VtxWyR2DFC
— General Daniel Hokanson (@ChiefNGB) November 23, 2022
“Birds surprisingly are a rising share of mishaps at airports, and we’re seeing all the technology we’re deploying doesn’t seem to be enough to keep these flying creatures away,” Prof. Joe Schwieterman from DePaul University said, according to WLS-TV.
Last month, a Miami-bound United Airlines flight leaving O’Hare International Airport made an emergency landing after it struck a bird after takeoff.
The impact resulted in an engine fire. No one aboard the plane was hurt.
Ever see what a simple head on collision with a bird does to the nose of a fiberglass plane? pic.twitter.com/WZqm6BS5Za
— The Swammi (@CB_Severson) September 11, 2022
The FAA reports that between 1990 and 2019, there were 227,005 wildlife collisions with civilian aircraft in the U.S., with 17,228 alone in 2019.
The FAA reported that 97 percent of wildlife collisions are with birds, but the planes have struck deer and coyotes on the ground.
A recent study noted some times of the year are safer than others.
“Out of all the bird strikes recorded at Kennedy, Newark, and LaGuardia airports during a six-year period, the highest number occurred during migration, especially during the fall, perhaps due to many inexperienced young birds born earlier in the year,” said Cecilia Nilsson, lead author of a study on bird strikes, according to Phys.org. The study was conducted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and its partners.
“Ninety percent of the strikes involved a migratory species. Our model predicts that the risk for damaging strikes during periods with very high migration intensity increases by as much as 400 percent to 700 percent.” Nilsson said.
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