Bird strikes in Helicopter Emergency Medical Services: case report and safety recommendations

Abstract

Bird and other wildlife strikes to aircraft cause over 12,000 accidents in the United States annually. Major flight safety organisations estimate that 80 per cent of bird strikes to civil aircraft go unreported.

Since 1988, over 195 people have been killed as a result of such incidents worldwide. Helicopter emergency medical service helicopters flying at very low altitudes are not out of danger, although bird collisions to rotary-wing aircrafts are very rare.

The author reports an extraordinary case of a bird strike to the Czech 'Christoph 6' Eurocopter EC-135 followed by safety recommendations to reduce wildlife hazard which can even cause a fatal accident.