Boeing 767-222 N607UA

Summary

On 19 October 2002 at about 12:50 local time, a Boeing 767-222 registered N607UA was involved in an incident near Boston, Massachusetts, United States. 128 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

19 October 2002 at 12:50

Classification

Incident

Location

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Nearest airport

Logan International Airport (BOS)

Coordinates

42.2301, -71.5294

Aircraft

Boeing 767-222

Registration

N607UA

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Boston → San Fransisco

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD03IA007

Nobody was injured.

An inadvertant collision with birds during the initial climb out.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The Boeing 767 struck three birds during the initial climb out from runway 22. One double-crested cormorant was ingested by the #2 engine, another struck the right wing, and a third bird was found seriously injured on the runway. The airplane returned to the airport and landed uneventfully. Examination revealed damage to the right inboard leading edge slat, landing light, and the #2 engine bypass stator vanes. A review of the airport's Wildlife Hazard Management Plan revealed that on the morning of the incident, two wildlife technicians reported "heavy bird activity" to the control tower. The airport's Automated Terminal Information System (ATIS) was then updated to reflect the hazard, and was still active at the time of the incident. Prior to the airplane's take-off, one of the wildlife plan supervisors reported a flock of birds to the control tower and said they were flying about 200 feet over the approach end of runway 15, moving southbound. A tower controller responded that they had the birds in sight. Shortly thereafter, another airplane departed runway 22 without incident, then the incident airplane took off. A review of air traffic control communications revealed that no specific warning was given by the air traffic controllers to either of the crews, due to the fact that the birds were not in their flight path. It was believed that the flock then split into two or three separate flocks after the other airplane took off, with one of the flocks turning east and directly into the path of the incident airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.