With a real high-speed rail link to Seattle, who would need a Portland airport anyway? It's for the birds.

Lots of raptors on the list - curious why they are hit at a rate that's disproportional to their numbers in the wild. And if it's just some sort of raptor thing, I suppose PDX is much closer to natural areas than the others, where they would have plenty of prey to feed upon.

Of course, we also have to remember that SEA, SFO, and LAX have quite a few more takeoffs and landings than PDX. Our numbers are even more out of proportion when that's taken into account.

I hope we continue to use only non-lethal means of protecting the birds from aircraft. The birds were there before the airplanes.

Don't forget that two birds died when Captain Scully flew threw their peaceful flock. He lived, but they paid the ultimate price.

About 20 years ago, I was on a plane flying out of PDX which hit a bird. It was pretty unsettling to look out the window and see flames shooting out of the left engine of the plane, plus the cabin filled with the smell of singed feathers and bird flesh. Fortunately it was only one engine and the pilot was able to turn around and land the plane safely at PDX.

Is there any reason the plane manufacturers can't put something in front of the engine, like a meshed screen, to keep birds from being sucked in?

Last summer I watched a plane lose an engine- a very loud bang was heard and flames were visible for a moment- before making a long loop back to the airport and landing safely (I was on the Columbia River at the time). I scanned the news for a day or two and never saw any reports about the emergency landing. A friend who had been a United mechanic at PDX mentioned that it happens somewhat frequently.

Is there any reason the plane manufacturers can't put something in front of the engine, like a meshed screen, to keep birds from being sucked in?

Yes.

My guess is that (1) retrofitting the engines with something to shield them from birds would involve a engineering, design and structural costs no one is willing to incur and (2) the feds apparently don't mandate any such protective device.

Jetliners coming in and out of Los Angeles International Airport struck birds at least 940 times between Jan. 1, 1990 and Dec. 31, 2008, according to figures released today by the Federal Aviation Administration.

While most of the bird strikes resulted in broken windshields or minor scrapes, about 36 of the reported incidents resulted in "substantial damage" to planes at LAX.

Source: Dailybreeze.com

It's the damned unions around here. They've organized even the birds.

Perhaps the Port should concentrate on bargaining in good faith. Or at least seem like it.

A more likely culprit is AIG, or its subidiary International Lease Finance Corporation. ILFC owns most of the commercial airliners, leasing them to airlines worldwide. I believe that ILFC is also Lockheed Martin's largest customer. This may be one reason the government didn't want to nationalize AIG, or maybe the primary reason.

Boeing's largest customer (not Lockheed Martin).

As previously stated in this blog, the birds were there first.

The morons at the Port of Portland not only built the present airport in a wetland and migratory-bird flyway, but they situated the old airport on Swan Island, formerly another incredible habitat for valuable wildlife.

Consider what we have lost just because the Port of Portland bullies the public, ignores wildlife habitat needs, and buys our city councilors with campaign donations.
And of course, all the Port Commissioners are political appointees of the Governor.

"Is there any reason the plane manufacturers can't put something in front of the engine, like a meshed screen, to keep birds from being sucked in?"

While I'm no aerospace engineer, I would imagine that this would restrict airflow into the engine, which would cause real problems on a turbofan jet that works by compressing the air that comes in the intake.

If the air is turbulent from passing through a screen of some type, it probably doesn't work nearly as efficiently.

That, and smacking a bird at 400 mph and having it get pressed against said screen and not be removed until you landed would likely still kill the bird, and still shut down the engine due to insufficient air flow.