200 Starlings Hitting Aircraft Engine On Take Off

See those black bits scattered around this Boeing? It’s just part of a massive flock of starlings hitting its fuselage and engine as it was taking off at 322km/h. About two hundred birds were sucked into the turbine.

According to the photographer, Juergen Kienast, the sound of the engine as it sucked the birds was deafening:

The pitch of the engine said it all. It was like sticking a bit of metal pipe into a blender.

Unlike the Hudson River Airbus, however, the crew and passengers got lucky: They didn’t have to do any crash landing. The birds weren’t that lucky, however, some splattering against the fuselage, others getting blended into a starling purée. Sad, but better them than the 80 people on board. [Daily Mail]