When the synthetic voice announces “Hundred above” we know that in 100 feet we will reach the altitude where we must decide whether we land or not.. Malmo Sturup airport runway 35 and the lemon-colored terminal slowly come into view from behind the low cloud layer that hid them from sight so far. “Minimum” and “Continue” are announced and we touch the concrete runway softly like a gentle kiss.
-Taxi to stand six via Alpha, Yankee and Delta – says the controller and we taxi carefully on the rain-soaked apron to airbridge number six. I scamper down from the plane for the walk-around inspection and stop alongside the push-back tug. In spite of the drizzle, our airplane, looks imposing as it stands proudly – and as yet undamaged – alongside the airbrdige. For the hundredth time the thought flashes through my mind: I have picked a great job!
Malmo airport became famous, or should I say infamous, during the Hungarian gipsy exodus. A lot of them arrived there from the area of Mohacs in Hungary in the hope of a better future. They flew Malev on the return trip, compliments of the Hungarian taxpayers… most of the migrants were expelled from Sweden. But there were a few exceptions, some of them managed to find their luck and they fly home regularly on our services. Now it looks like we will not escape without a minor scandal on this trip either. A homeless-looking, drunk passenger refuses to follow the cabin crew’s instructions, he is on his cell, blocking other passengers from reaching their seats, finally he starts to push and tug at others. The purser says that in her considered opinion flight safety would be adversely affected if this passenger was allowed to fly with us. There are few questions, we trust our colleague’s opinion fully, this is why we are an effective crew. The police arrive. At first only one officer but he is soon joined by another three. The passenger is led away and for security reasons we have to find and off-load his baggage from the hold. This means we have lost the 10 minutes we gained on arrival and will be pushing back 7 minutes late.
We taxi to the holding position and the tower issues our take-off clearance.
-Runway 35 cleared for take-off, wind 310 degrees 8 knots.
We set take-off power and the powerful engines start accelerating the aircraft. At 131 knots I announce V One, this means we must now take off no matter what. 138 knots… Rotate… the captain pulls back on the sidestick and the nose of the plane rises. It is than that I notice the seagull!
She is flying from the left, at right angle to the runway centerline. Grey body, yellow beak, grey-white wings spread wide, she melts beautifully into the somber grey background of the sky. She is so elegant and perfect, a beautiful flying machine only nature could create. She is flying lazily with long sweeps of her tapered wings totally unaware of the 65 tons of deadly danger approaching at 300 kilometers per hour. A moment later her life is snuffed out in a fraction of a second.
A soft thud is heard from the right, the sound of Engine No. 2 changes slightly: a bit more noise and vibration that seems to be a bit higher than normal.
-Birdstrike! – I announce. At least the CVR will show that we noticed.
We check the engine parameters. Nothing to note. Thrust is normal and the computer is not showing any irregularities. We retract the landing gear then the flaps as we climb and turn in accordance with the controller instructions. Pressure ratio, exhaust gas temperature, the rpm of the low and high pressure turbines, oil pressure and level, fuel flow… all are normal, both sides showing equal values. Vibration? Well, that has increased slightly in the N1 section of engine 2. Instead of the normal 0.2-0.3 it is now around 0.8-1.0, crawling slowly up to even 1.8. But this is still well within the allowed limit. Vibration can reach this level in normal operations also. Noise? Yes, that is still different from the usual purr but the difference is almost impossible to hear.
We ask the purser to come to the cockpit and ask her whether they have seen or heard anything. We then evaluate the situation. We conclude that in most likelihood the fan-blades in the N1 section of engine 2 have suffered light damage. We are in the air and stopping to check the engine is not an option. A decision is imperative. Malmo is 20 miles, Budapest more than 500. Malmo visibility is close to minimums in generally bad weather and there is no maintenance service available. Budapest is reporting good weather and the excellent ground crew of Lufthansa Technik is at our disposal. There are several suitable airports along our route where we can land if things take an adverse turn. In Germany we can land in Berlin or Leipzig, in Poland there is Szczecin, Poznan, or Wroclaw. In the Czech Republic we can use Prague or Brno and from there we can get home even on a prayer. So, the decision is made to continue the flight to our original destination.
We land at Budapest Ferihegy after an uneventful flight… well, at least if we discount the bird strike at the beginning. Of course we are very curious to learn what had actually happened. The captain disembarks with the passengers, I stay in the cockpit. In a short while he knocks and signals that this airplane will not go anywhere from here, she needs to be repaired.
Once all the passengers are gone I too walk down the stairs and peer into the engine. Two of the titanium alloy fan blades are seriously bent and the low pressure part is red from dried blood. Once again Airbus and the International Aero Engines powerplant passed the test with flying colors. In spite of the serious damage they brought us home safely from far-away Scandinavia.
Now we can joke about whether or not the bird had a helmet on or what we would be doing in the hotel at this moment if we had to return to Malmo.
The aircraft is towed to the hangar for repairs. With one aircraft out of commission, our Treviso run is cancelled. There is flooding in Venice, not worth going there anyway. Other services will operate but with 20-80 minute delays.
Once again nature has shown who is boss.
You can see pictures of various bird-strike incidents here.