Researchers find that US Airways’ Flight 1549 had bumped into a flock of Canada geese

Scientific examination has revealed that the birds which caused US Airways’ Flight 1549 to splash-land in the Hudson River in New York on January 15, 2009, were migratory Canada geese.

Researchers at the Smithsonian Institution in the United States have reported that DNA analysis showed that the geese were migratory and probably wintering in New York.

Samples of feathers and tissue of the Canada geese had been sent to the Feather Identification Laboratory at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. The laboratory routinely identifies birds that collide with aircraft.

The Airbus A320 aircraft was flying about 2,900 feet above the ground and around 5 miles from LaGuardia Airport in New York (from where it had taken off ) when it collided with a flock of birds.

Both engines of the plane were damaged in the collision, but Captain Chesley B Sullenberger III, in a near-miraculous act, landed the plane in the icy Hudson River, thus saving the lives of all the 155 people aboard.

In their report, the researchers at the Smithsonian Institution said they “went one step further” and examined the ratios of hydrogen and its stable isotope, deuterium, in the birds’ feathers.

Studies of migratory birds, they explained, have shown that the deuterium-hydrogen ratio can be used to identify where the birds molt and breed – “the higher the ratio, the further north the birds were when they grew new feathers.” And, this was the first time that they have “done anything like this” to identify bird-strikes.

The analysis showed that the birds in question were Canadian migratory geese that bred in Labrador, and they might have been wintering in the New York area.

Peter P Marra, ornithologist of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, and one of the researchers, wrote in the report that “knowing that the birds were migratory is crucial to developing management strategies.”

According to Marra, if the birds are local, strategies like reduction in population and modification in habitat can lessen the number of bird-strikes. However, if the birds are migratory, improved radar technology and other techniques are more suitable.

The research team is now carrying out the comparatively more complicated job of trying to determine how many birds struck US Airways’ Flight 1549. 

It was found in a preliminary DNA analysis that at least one male and one female bird struck one engine, and at least one female bird struck the second engine, one researcher said.

Meanwhile, the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has started hearings about the bird-strike incident involving US Airways’ plane as well as other bird-strikes.
 
The United State Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reports around 7,400 bird-strikes each year, but the actual number is believed to be much higher.

According to the FAA’s estimates, only 20% of bird-strikes are reported, and bird-strikes have destroyed 210 aircraft, leading to the death of 229 people since 1988.