Transportation Industry

Bird strikes! What's a maintainer to do?

Flying Safety, August, 2004 by Melanie Presuto

The Bird/Wildlife Airstrike Hazard (BASH) Team knows the scenario: A "Whisper-pig" (C-130) returns from another dark night of flying in the low-level world, and as the crew heads for the limo, uh, crew bus, and another late night meal at the flight kitchen, the Nav looks over at the ECM pod and groans, "Hey, what's that stuff on our bird?"

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The co-pilot glances at the gunk, grimaces, and asks, "Which bird, ours or the previously live one now gracing the pod?"

"Whatever! Just make sure maintenance knows we hit something and to look for any problems."

What's a maintainer to do when he/she sees blood and guts smeared on the side of their aircraft rolling in? Grab the Windex and a paper towel? NO! Ready the hose? BASH says, ABSOLUTELY NOT! That "snarge" as we call it (a very technical term, by the way, from the Feather Lab Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution) is the key to the identification of a bird or wildlife strike. Air Force Manual 91-223, Aviation Safety Investigations and Reports, a supplement to AFI 91-204, Safety Investigations and Reports, provides additional guidance for investigating and reporting aviation mishaps, to include BASH. Under Investigative Evidence, 5.4.2.1., the directions for bird and wildlife strike remains, are outlined. This includes everything from whole carcasses to just feet, beak, feathers or even blood smears, or "snarge." Further instructions may be found online at the BASH website: http://afsafety.af.mil/AFSC/Bash/wild.html.> In many instances the members of the BASH Team read the reports for quality control and find that maintenance personnel or pilots had noted a blood smear in their report, yet no remains were sent to the Smithsonian. In these cases, it is important to let the personnel in charge of aircraft upkeep know that blood smears might contain minute pieces of bird feather or other fleshy remains, and even if they don't, the Smithsonian now has feather identification technology that includes DNA analysis.

The best action for personnel to take is the "blot" method. DO NOT SCRUB! No "wax on, wax off." Just as Mom told you that scrubbing blood into clothing kills the chances of saving your favorite tee, scrubbing "snarge" off of an airplane could destroy any microscopic evidence that could've been used to identify a bird. Resist the urge to use the old vigorous circular motion! Instead, as AFMAN 91-223 outlines, spray the blood smear with water, blot with a clean paper towel, fold the towel and place it into a labeled zip-loc bag. Send a copy of the corresponding AFSAS report along with the strike evidence to the following address: Smithsonian Institution, Feather Identification Lab, NHBE 610 MRC 116, 10th and Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20560.

It's that easy; and for BASH, it's that important! Now, go and wash your hands--you don't want any "snarge" on them. Even if there was zero damage, the BASH Team still uses that information to report on the frequency of strikes of different species around the world. This data may later be used to update the Bird Avoidance Model to provide better information to flight crews to prevent bird strikes, and reduce your workload. So the next time you, the maintainer, are armed with hose in one hand, scrub brush in the other, think twice! Think "snarge"! Think BASH!

1ST LT MELANIE PRESUTO

HQ AFSC/SEFW