Birds on final - A go around may not be the best idea

[pelmet]

"N427QX, a Bombardier DHC-8-400 aircraft operated by Horizon Air, was conducting flight QXE2266 from Seattle-Tacoma Intl (KSEA), WA to Vancouver Intl (CYVR), BC with 4 crew members and 68 passengers on board. During the final approach to land at CYVR during the hours of darkness, the flight crew observed a large flock of Canadian geese passing in front of the aircraft. In order to avoid hitting the birds, the flight crew pitch the aircraft up and executed a missed approach. Still, the aircraft struck several birds, causing damage to the right wing inboard leading edge. The flight crew declared an emergency, and requested vectors to return to land. ARFF responded and the aircraft landed without further incident. No injuries were reported."

Recently, my company put out a memo issued by the YVR Airport Authority about a birdstrike hazard at YVR on short final at night time. Up to 2.4 kg birds along the shoreline which has resulted in YVR using runway 26 at night sometimes. According to the memo..."in 2017 4 aircraft were damaged because of Snow Goose strikes, including 2 aircraft that ingested geese into both engines while arriving on Runway 08L and 08R, respectively".

So you if you see a flock of birds, your best bet may be to just continue and land.

Of course, the details of the incident flight above are not fully known but the Herc in the link below did the go-around thing several years back and a lot of people died. Of course instinct will probably make you pull up somewhat but......flying through the birds instead of an automatic go-around may be the best bet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Belg ... s_accident

As well, accepting an easterly takeoff may be a better idea for those heavy late night trans-Pacific departures instead of that runway 26 request, opposite to the approach in use, to save some fuel/time.

[flyingcanuck]

oh yeah Ive seen alot of birds, usually on the west side of the airport, been close to a go around as well. Im surprised there arent more incidents with them

[digits_]

oh yeah Ive seen alot of birds, usually on the west side of the airport, been close to a go around as well. Im surprised there arent more incidents with them

That's because they put "caution, birds in the area" on the ATIS at a lot of airports. That keeps us all safe. It might even be safer if they put it in a NOTAM. Or why not both?

[av8ts]

YYZ has migratory Geese (or Goose) on the ATIS 24/7 365. Kinda like crying wolf.

[aeroncasuperchief]

toooo many tree hugging naturalists in yvr to change the status quo I dead bird or tree gets MANY upset, It may take a downed A-380 full of birders to make a change I'm afraid !

[pelmet]

After a full ten years of investigation, the Italian accident investigation board has released the report on a Ryanair 737 that encountered birds on very short final and attempted a go-around to avoid them. They ingested many birds and crashed, fortunately there were no deaths.

You can read a short brief at this link...

https://aviation-safety.net/database/re ... 20081110-0

and the report here....

https://reports.aviation-safety.net/200 ... EI-DYG.pdf

A good example of why a go-around may not be the best idea. In this case, they were less than 200 feet above the ground when they decided not to land.

[pelmet]

Don't know what was done here but thinking about it a bit more, may best not to do a Flex or ATM takeoff towards the west at YVR. This incident happened at 0600 local.

"N452UA, an Airbus 320-200 aircraft operated by United Airlines, was conducting flight UAL545
from Vancouver Intl (CYVR), BC to Denver Intl (KDEN), CO with 5 crew members and 140
passengers on board. During the departure off Runway 26L at CYVR, the aircraft experienced
multiple bird strikes. The flight crew subsequently declared an emergency, and requested a return
to CYVR. The aircraft landed without further incident on Runway 26R with ARFF standing by, and
the aircraft taxied to the gate under its own power. Runway 26L was closed for 15 minutes for
cleanup.

The operator’s maintenance found that several ducks hit the left side of the fuselage. An inspection
found 5 damaged blades on the number 1 turbo-fan engine (International Aero Engines V2500
series). These blades were in the low pressure compressor section of the engine, and there was
evidence of tip curl or missing tips on these blades. The blade damage warranted an engine
replacement."

[pelmet]

Quite a bit of damage to this aircraft.....

C-GJWS, a WestJet Boeing 737-800, was operating as flight WJA209 from Calgary Intl (CYYC),
AB to Victoria (CYYJ), BC. During short final at CYYJ the aircraft encountered a flock of geese and
struck approximately 10 of them. The crew executed a missed approach and diverted to Vancouver
Intl (CYVR), BC. With ARFF on standby, the aircraft was given priority clearance and it landed
without further incident. The aircraft nose cone had been punctured by the impact. There were no
injuries.

[PostmasterGeneral]

I was always taught to fly through the buggers and continue the approach if you hit some, especially in a big jet.

Based on the case studies in this thread, that seems like
The best course of action, no?