After the deadly plane crash in South Korea at the end of 2024, currently believed to have been caused by a bird strike, our colleagues from RTL spoke to officials at Findel airport to find out more about local attempts at risk mitigation.
Lux-Airport responded that they have a special “wildlife management” team whose responsibility is to keep the bird strike danger under control.
A spokesperson explained: “Our approach consists of a variety of tools and techniques to deter birds, including acoustic gas canons, laser pointers, and special pyrotechnics. Additionally, we carefully monitor the cutting of grass to reduce its attractiveness to birds, and we identify areas surrounding the airport that could serve as potential breeding grounds, ensuring that they are unusable for nest building.”
Over the course of the last two years, these techniques have helped reduce cases of bird strike by more than 10%, say airport officials.
The plane crash in Muan at the end of last year, which cost 179 lives, was the severest aviation accident in South Korea in five years and the severest one worldwide in 2024. While the exact reason for the crash has yet to be confirmed, authorities currently believe a bird strike to be the most likely cause.
It is suspected that birds entered one or several turbines, after which the pilot was forced to attempt an emergency landing. During this attempt, the plane’s landing gear malfunctioned, preventing the wheels from being deployed. The plane thus slid over the runway before eventually crashing into a wall and subsequently bursting into flames.
Only two crew members survived the incident.
This was not the first major aviation accident caused by a bird strike. One of the most famous such cases happened in New York on 15 January 2009 when US Airways flight 1549 suffered a bird strike shortly after departure. The Airbus A320, piloted by Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, conducted an impressive emergency landing on the Hudson River, with all lives saved.
The impressive achievement by Sullenberger was later turned into a film, with no other than Tom Hanks portraying the pilot.
