Passenger’s lucky escape after bustard hits propeller
● When Africa’s largest flying bird collides with an aircraft 350 times heavier than it, it’s obvious which of them will come off worst.
But one of the four passengers aboard the plane when the collision happened after it landed in Limpopo last month can count themself lucky.
A propeller blade severed in the collision with a kori bustard went through the side of the plane and smashed a window next to the seat the passenger had occupied on take-off from Johannesburg.
“The cabin crew member reported that the passenger, who was seated in row three for weight and balance purposes, vacated the seat during flight to occupy one of the empty seats at the back of the aircraft,” said a South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) inspector.
This was the reason the accident was considered “survivable”, said a CAA preliminary report into the collision involving an Airlink Jetstream 41 at De Beers’ Venetia diamond mine, between Alldays and the border with Zimbabwe.
The twin-engined turboprop left OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg early on January 3 with three crew and four passengers, and approached the mine aerodrome shortly after 6am.
The accident report said touchdown was normal but during the landing roll, when the plane was travelling at 200km/h, a kori bustard took flight from the grass verge next to the runway and collided with the right-hand propeller, severing one of its five blades.
“Some fragments from the blade penetrated the fuselage. According to the crew, the bird strike caused the aircraft to shake and the No 2 engine to show over-temperature indication,” said the accident report. “Some components from the engine were damaged.”
A kori bustard can weigh up to 19kg and spends about 70% of its time foraging on the ground.
“When alarmed it will first run and, if pushed further, will take to the air on the run with much effort, its wings making heavy wingbeats,” according to Wikipedia. The male is about twice as big as the female.