On Tuesday night, an American Airlines Boeing 737-800 flew through multiple birds on approach to Kansas City airport. Though the aircraft suffered quite a bit of damage, no person onboard was injured.

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Aircraft sustains significant damage, but no person suffers injuries

American Airlines flight 1855 took off from Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Tuesday at 20:17 local and headed for Kansas City. Things were normal onboard the Boeing 737-800 until it was about 7.5 miles away from the runway at KCI. Near the airport, the 737-800 ran into numerous birds and declared an emergency. Upon landing at KCI, at 21:23, fire and rescue trucks met the aircraft.

According to flightradar24, the 12-year-old Boeing 737-800 in the incident is registered as N844NN. The aircraft suffered noticeable damage on the nose, engine cowling, and left wing. The ending cowling appears to have taken the most severe hit on the right side, but the left wing's leading edge was quite damaged.

A319 damaged in Montreal

An American Airlines Airbus A319 was damaged earlier this week in Montreal. The A319, tail number N774XF, was parked at gate 83 when the wingtip of another aircraft made contact with the right wing. Some of the passengers onboard reported feeling the impact of the minor collision.

Because of the incident, those onboard were asked to deplane so the airline could find a replacement aircraft for the flight to Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The airline provided the following statement,

"American Airlines flight 1350, with service from Montréal (YUL) to Charlotte (CLT), was parked at the gate before departure when the wingtip of another aircraft made contact with the right wing of American’s aircraft. There were no reported injuries, and all customers deplaned normally. Our team worked to re-accommodate our customers. We thank our team for their professionalism and our customers' understanding."

Are bird strikes frequent?

Bird strikes happen frequently, and the damage to an aircraft can vary from case to case. On October 28, an Akasa Air Boeing 737 MAX was grounded for inspection after suffering a bird strike during its initial climb. The aircraft landed safely with no reported injuries but was grounded for further review as bird strikes have occurred with higher frequencies.

On October 15, another MAX aircraft in Akasa Air's fleet suffered a bird strike while climbing out of Mumbai airport to Bengaluru. Unlike the incident on the 28, this aircraft had to turn around and return to its origin. After the bird strike, a burning smell filled the cabin, and it was later confirmed that bird remains had been found on engine one.

According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the governing body in India, bird strikes have increased by 49.3% between January and July 2022 compared to 2021. To combat the problem, the DGCA issued guidelines related to waste management near airports to keep animals away from airports.