A hawk hits an engine.....

"Grindintosecond" (Grindintosecond)
10/05/2013 at 17:25 • Filed to: Planelopnik

.....At takeoff power. Like a golf ball on a record the bird slides out from the center as it spins. The bird first hit blade 17 near the root, smashes into blade 16 in thee middle (where you can clearly see the blade is BENT along the leading edge compared to the other blades) and then hits the tip of 15 where it wedged between the cowling and cracks and bends the tip. At least a 3 blade replacement, then open up the cowling and check the insides. A good night for the mechanics. The blood streak up top goes around the whole outside of the fan but is mostly at the top where it was...well...consumed.

It was flown in, I was waiting to get in it and take the plane elsewhere but when I saw that, I knew it was done for the night. The fan spins at about 7,000 rpm at takeoff power and this engine flew from where it took off, for about an hour, then landed in Chicago with all instruments and vibration measures within the green limits. Quite a durable engine these GE things. We don't know for sure if a bird actually hits the plane or where, we just see it fly really close by and then check the plane once we land unless there's obvious effects, like a flock of geese.......

DISCUSSION (8)

Louros > Grindintosecond
10/05/2013 at 17:32

Cool stuff. I work at a shop that overhauls turbine blades and once in a while we get parts from bird strike engines. Usually the damage isn't so bad, because by the time the bird reached the turbine it's already fairly well chopped up.

Grindintosecond > Louros
10/05/2013 at 17:43

yeah, plus it gets spun so all the parts usually pass through the fan into the bypass section and not much gets into the core.....if it did the passengers would smell a chicken dinner.

DavidHH > Louros
10/05/2013 at 17:48

Unless the bird is frozen, but that has not apparently happened.

http://www.snopes.com/science/cannon…

Bluecold > Grindintosecond
10/05/2013 at 17:52

Does anyone get to display the dented blades in their home as display pieces?

Grindintosecond > Bluecold
10/05/2013 at 18:02

Back in the day people could take home a broken wooden prop but today I think these blades would go back to GE and they would inspect them for stresses for further engineering work....how to make them better. I really don't know tho, but if I had one at home, I don't know if id want a straight one or a really twisted 'holy crap what happened' type of blade.

f86sabre > Grindintosecond
10/05/2013 at 18:08

You are are on RJs right? CF34 engine? Bird strikes are crazy things, but it looks like the engine did its job.

I was taking a coop and new engineer around our new 737-900ER last week and while under the wing I look up and see a red smear and some feathers on the bottom of the inboard aft flap. It happens. We had a 757 totally chew up a motor out of JFK last year (might have been two years ago) when it ran through a flock of geese. Nasty.

Bluecold > Grindintosecond
10/05/2013 at 18:40

I don't know if they really do need them for testing or just want them as display pieces themselves. I've been to a few aerospace component companies and those offices are always full of discarded stuff. As in, entire helicopter tail sections that have been ripped apart in testing just standing there, taking the space of about 8 desks.

I also think that discarded aerospace stuff could be valuable for interiors. Quite a lot of people would love some cool looking worn out piece of aircraft to display in their garage. Landing gear struts, torn wing webs/spars.. aerospace stuff looks cool. Then again, the margins are so slim that I'm sure aerospace companies have already thought of this and decided that it wasn't worth the effort.

Grindintosecond > Bluecold
10/05/2013 at 20:43

There is also a high component value to the inherent metal. Ie: the aluminum used in that blade is seriously high grade stuff so there is a core charge i would imagine for replacement parts.