A bird strike incident involving a China Airlines (CAL) flight at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on April 16 was caused by a crested serpent eagle, a report released last week by the Flight Safety Foundation-Taiwan said.
The report said that an examination of a small amount of flesh and feathers from what was left of the shredded bird showed that the CAL flight collided with the medium-large raptor, a reptile eater that hunts over woodland mainly for snakes and lizards.
Flight safety experts at the foundation noted that airport authorities had launched a drive to eliminate rodents around the airport shortly before the incident.
They said in the report that the eagle was probably attracted by rat carcasses or slow-moving rodents under the influence of rat poison.
A bird strike at the Taoyuan airport caused by such a large bird of prey is a rare occurrence, as previous incidents involved only small birds, the report said.
The CAL jetliner involved in the strike was taxiing on the runway at the time and did not suffer serious damage, it said.
Bird strikes are a perennial problem for aircraft at Taiwan’s airports.
The Flight Safety Foundation recorded six such incidents in April and last month at airports nationwide.
The air force has lost four jet fighters to bird strikes since 1991 but no crashes of civilian aircraft have been attributed to bird strikes.
Statistics compiled by the foundation show there were 841 bird strike incidents involving military and civilian aircraft in Taiwan between 2002 and 2005, 108 of which resulted in damage.
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