We took off for takeoff on runway 27 at the airport in Bombay Santa Cruz. On board a bunch of Indian Muslims who were on a pilgrimage once in a lifetime to Mecca. It was a hot day and we were close to the maximum takeoff weight of 430,000 pounds. The aircraft, a Lockheed L1011-1 had a takeoff run long with three Rolls-Royce RB211 engines produce a maximum thrust.
At 1500 feet I pushed the nose to increase speed so that we can begin to retract the flaps. At that time, there was a big blow on the left side of the aircraft. The leading edge of the left wing seemed normal, so we decided it must have been caused by a significant contribution from the left engine of the bird. The flight engineer reported that all engine indications were normal, so he continued to retract flaps on schedule and arrived at our first assigned altitude.
After a discussion between the three of us, the captain decided to continue to Jeddah, in accordance with the flight plan. Santa Cruz Airport is near the beach and there is an ever-present threat of collision with birds seagulls.
The first part of the flight was on the Arabian Sea and it was not long before losing contact all VHF and HF communications up again approaching the coast of Oman. Anyone who has used HF knows how frustrating it can be sometimes give position reports and try to understand the drivers with unfamiliar accents.
During the flight on the Arabian Sea Rolls Royce engines worked perfectly with normal indications. Flying over the desert of Saudi Arabia, we are moderate to severe clear air turbulence that was uncomfortable for passengers, many of whom were in their first flight. For three of us, apart from the discomfort, there was also concern for the left engine ingested a bird. We call Jeddah HF and strive for a change of level to overcome the turbulence. Get a change in level during the Haj Jeddah is lost at certain times of the day due. Of course, there is a lot of traffic on all roads leading to Jeddah during the two months of Haj.
It turned out that we do not need to worry. The engine has just bounced up and down in the turbulence, but continue to operate normally. Approaching Jeddah we solve for an ILS approach to runway 34C (instrument landing system). The Jeddah airport has three parallel runways to handle increased traffic during the annual Haj.
After landing minimum use of reverse thrust and braking, ride through and out of the airfield near the Haj Terminal at the north end of the track field. After a very short time we arrived at the taxy platform, which had two full lines of aircraft from the Middle East, Africa and Far East.
Once the stop engine engineers boarded to discuss the impact of suspected bird. Then removed the left engine where they discovered a few feathers, but at first glance, there was no significant damage to the engine.
A few days later, the aircraft was moved to a ferry flight to Abu Dhabi two engines in the Persian Gulf, where a RB211 engine maintenance workshop had flown from the United Kingdom.
The bird strikes often cause severe engine damage requiring an immediate return to the departure aerodrome. It is a global problem especially in airports located near the sea
There was a famous case where the gulls were ingested into the engines of an Airbus A320 shortly after takeoff. This incident caused a failure of both engines at low altitude and the crew has to have to leave the plane in the Hudson River in New York. Superior Racing produced a satisfactory result without loss of life.
Our own collision incident with birds of Bombay was not critical, proved to be an interesting experience. Is a function of engine normally very good for six hours after ingestion of a large bird!
The author, Anthony Woodward, is an airline pilot retired formerly of the Far East, Middle East and Europe. It is the type of the FAA approved the Boeing 727, Boeing 747-400 and Lockheed L1011. He was also a pilot, flight instructor, instruments business, and ground instructor with the national carrier of Australia on 767.
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