Birds Responsible for Airplane Crash

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/608/1

With new age forensics and sophisticated chemical analysis, Researchers were able to figure out exactly what kind of bird brought down US Airways flight 1549, causing it to crash into the Hudson river in January. You may be thinking: " How can a bird bring down an airplane? Did it grab on and fly downwards?" Well it's nothing that glorified. It just jammed the engine with its body by flying into it.

When the investigation started they had a prime suspect. Large Water Birds. This was because plane engines were already designed to handle strikes from birds of smaller types. Now in order to start sifting out exactly which large water bird it was, a Smithsonian scientist, Carla Dove (I wonder why SHE specifically was chosen for this, Maybe her last name?), was able to isolate and sequence a piece of mitochondrial DNA, or DNA Bar codes as it is more commonly known to scientists in the field.
Using this DNA she started comparing it with known "Bird Bar Codes" as the article so colorfully put it. After Much searching and probably a lot of coffee, Carla found the bird that had done the deed. Canada Geese.

Why is it so important to know what type of bird did this? " "It is really critical" to know what birds are involved, as airports need permits and programs to deal with birds that get in the way, says Sandra Wright, who manages the federal bird-strike database at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Sandusky, Ohio. In 2007, there were more than 7400 bird strikes documented in the United States, and many thousands more go unreported. Since 1988, worldwide, bird strikes have caused 229 deaths and destroyed more than 210 aircraft. They cause an estimated $1.1 billion in damages each year." The reason is shown in the quotes I have taken from the article.

So next time you hear of a plane crash, don't forget, it could have been the BIRDS...

I claim no rights to the article the link leads to. The quotes are not my own, but are from the article.