Delta flight to Nashville makes emergency landing due to bird strike

weasel3d

weasel3d

Jedi
Today's news has a report that a Delta flight from New York to Nashville made an emergency landing in West Virginia due to a bird strike that shattered the windshield. I was on the flight with my trumpet player. But i thnk that they're lying about the bird. We were still at cruising altitude. As far as I know, there are no birds at 30000 feet. We were still an hour out of Nashville and couldn't have been under 30000 feet at that point in the flight. Anyone want to confirm the altitude we would have to be at over Charleston, WV? _http://abcnews.go.com/US/plane-makes-emergency-landing-due-bird-strike/story?id=38417522
 
Glad to hear - you are OK, Ghostdoghaiku!

Just curious, did the pilot notify the passengers of the broken windshield/bird incident and did you feel any "impact" or noise when it happened?

This article states it happened around 4:50 PM.

Delta Flight en-route to Nashville makes an emergency landing at Yeager Airport
http://www.wsaz.com/content/news/Delta-Flight-en-route-to-Nashville-makes-an-emergency-landing-at-Yeager-Airport-375776561.html

CHARLESTON, W.Va.(WSAZ) -- 57 passengers en-route to Nashville from LaGuardia had an unexpected layover at Charleston's Yeager Airport Thursday night.

According to airport spokesman Mike Plante the Delta Jet CRJ 900 pilot told air traffic controllers they were going to make an emergency landing at 4:50 p.m. after a bird-strike.

When the bird hit the plane it cracked the windshield of the Delta Plane.

Flight 4071 landed at Yeager without any incident. No injuries were reported.

Plante says Delta will send a new plane and get passengers in the air around 8 p.m..
 
angelburst29 said:
Glad to hear - you are OK, Ghostdoghaiku!

Just curious, did the pilot notify the passengers of the broken windshield/bird incident and did you feel any "impact" or noise when it happened?

This article states it happened around 4:50 PM.

Delta Flight en-route to Nashville makes an emergency landing at Yeager Airport
http://www.wsaz.com/content/news/Delta-Flight-en-route-to-Nashville-makes-an-emergency-landing-at-Yeager-Airport-375776561.html

CHARLESTON, W.Va.(WSAZ) -- 57 passengers en-route to Nashville from LaGuardia had an unexpected layover at Charleston's Yeager Airport Thursday night.

According to airport spokesman Mike Plante the Delta Jet CRJ 900 pilot told air traffic controllers they were going to make an emergency landing at 4:50 p.m. after a bird-strike.

When the bird hit the plane it cracked the windshield of the Delta Plane.

Flight 4071 landed at Yeager without any incident. No injuries were reported.

Plante says Delta will send a new plane and get passengers in the air around 8 p.m..
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There was a sudden bank maneuver and we started going down to a lower altitude rather fast. Then the flight attendants came in and told us there was a slight problem and to expect the air pressure to change, that it was alright, we had a mechanical difficulty and we're going to make an emergency landing. But I knew it was pretty serious by the way he was flying and the way the attendant was repeating herself. I didn't notice an impact of any sort. My first perceptions were that the pilot was doing some radical maneuvers compared to what's normal at cruising altitude...sharp banking, dropping rather fast. Then the attendants confirmed the loss in altitude and eventually that we were making an unscheduled landing.
 
Truly sounds like a rollercoaster ride? It's good to hear that your OK and that things went smoothly with a safe landing. I know that there has been some fireball activity in Pa., NY, NJ, Virginia and Washington during the past week and a half but haven't located anything on the date of your plane experience, yet. It does sound curious that a bird would be at that height but then again, who knows? Could have been a chunk of ice that hit the windshield? Most important thing - you are OK and back home. :)
 
That sounds scary, glad you're OK. (Writing this on a Delta flight waiting to take off!)

The bird story does sound unbelievable. Maybe it was a tiny space pebble.
 
angelburst29 said:
Truly sounds like a rollercoaster ride? It's good to hear that your OK and that things went smoothly with a safe landing. I know that there has been some fireball activity in Pa., NY, NJ, Virginia and Washington during the past week and a half but haven't located anything on the date of your plane experience, yet. It does sound curious that a bird would be at that height but then again, who knows? Could have been a chunk of ice that hit the windshield? Most important thing - you are OK and back home. :)
Click to expand...

I thought about looking up fireball activity, and such. I'm on tour and not a lot of time, at the moment. But, that was one of the first things that I thought of. The 'bird' thing is pretty far fetched. My wife, who's a travel agent, says that there have been a lot of 'bird' related windshield incidents, with Delta and American. Though I don't know the details of other incidents, this one doesn't seem to fit easily into the bird category.

And yes, it was a stimulating experience, if not a "roller coaster" ride.
 
Mr. Premise said:
That sounds scary, glad you're OK. (Writing this on a Delta flight waiting to take off!)

The bird story does sound unbelievable. Maybe it was a tiny space pebble.
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Hey, Mr. Premise. Hope I haven't alarmed you, lol. Have a safe and easy flight! I don't know about you, but I do fly a lot and it's usually a simple and easy experience. Bon voyage.
 
While most birdstrikes occur during the approach and landing phases of a flight, that is below 10,000ft, (http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1496&context=icwdm_usdanwrc [PDF]) there have been recorded bird strikes at much higher altitudes. Here is one where a vulture hit a commercial airplane at 37000 ft! (http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v086n04/p0461-p0462.pdf) :)
 
Vulcan59 said:
While most birdstrikes occur during the approach and landing phases of a flight, that is below 10,000ft, (http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1496&context=icwdm_usdanwrc [PDF]) there have been recorded bird strikes at much higher altitudes. Here is one where a vulture hit a commercial airplane at 37000 ft! (http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v086n04/p0461-p0462.pdf) :)
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37000 foot flying vulture? That's amazing to me. On the other hand, I can't help but wonder if these reports of extraordinarily high flying birds aren't covers for just plain equipment and material failure, or other factors. I'd like to speak with some bird experts on it. Maybe I'll look some up on the net and message them. I'm all the more curious, now.
 
Here is an image of the cracked windshield of this particular flight in the CRJ 900.

endeavor_crj9_n916xj_charleston_160414_1.jpg


Reports suggest that the bird strike happened earlier (not sure what altitude) and as the aircraft reached cruise altitude at 38,000ft, the crew decided that it was better to land the aircraft. Presumably, the crew would have carried out a rapid descent type of maneuver, which basically means getting the aircraft to descend quickly to 10,000ft or lower before oxygen masks deploy in the cabin area.

http://www.hngn.com/articles/197021/20160415/delta-flight-makes-emergency-landing-after-bird-strike-cracks-windshield.htm
http://avherald.com/h?article=496ef204&opt=0
 
It would not be unusual for birds to be caught up in an updraft if there are thunder clouds about, and these could take the bird up to that height.
Or the bird stike could have happened at a lower altitude and weakened the window which might have cracked later on.
Either way, I'm glad that you're OK.
 
MusicMan said:
It would not be unusual for birds to be caught up in an updraft if there are thunder clouds about, and these could take the bird up to that height.
Or the bird stike could have happened at a lower altitude and weakened the window which might have cracked later on.
Either way, I'm glad that you're OK.
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I checked the weather before we left. No storm activity in that part of the country at the time. But a few people have suggested that it's possible the bird strike hit on takeoff and the pressure of flight did the rest along the way. I'm just glad it ended up safely for all. And by the way, thanks for all of you who've expressed your well wishes.
 
Ghostdoghaiku said:
Vulcan59 said:
While most birdstrikes occur during the approach and landing phases of a flight, that is below 10,000ft, (http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1496&context=icwdm_usdanwrc [PDF]) there have been recorded bird strikes at much higher altitudes. Here is one where a vulture hit a commercial airplane at 37000 ft! (http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v086n04/p0461-p0462.pdf) :)
Click to expand...

37000 foot flying vulture? That's amazing to me. On the other hand, I can't help but wonder if these reports of extraordinarily high flying birds aren't covers for just plain equipment and material failure, or other factors. I'd like to speak with some bird experts on it. Maybe I'll look some up on the net and message them. I'm all the more curious, now.
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Glad to hear that you are fine Ghostdoghaiku - about high flying birds, here's a list from Wikipedia - and highest flying bird is the Ruppel's Vulture at 38,000 feet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_by_flight_heights
 
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