17 January 2009

Regarding Bird Strikes

So I've been stranded for the last couple of days at another base (maintenance issues), so I've been unable to view Small Wars Journal or any other serious news site recently.  That means that, until I complete reading about 150 entries on my RSS reader, the astute criticism of defense policy will take a back seat to some of my more amusing reflections.

I'm certain all of you have heard of the amazing landing performed by a pilot who had a bird strike, lost both engines, and landed the plane safely in the Hudson River.  What's kind of amusing is that, true to form, the network news agencies have immediately started to sow their typical panic campaigns upon the viewing public by running news specials on how deadly bird strikes are, and how you will eventually die because of a bird strike.  It's as if planes and birds haven't been sharing the same airspace for the last 100 years or so--just now do we need to warn America of bird strikes.

In related news, we've actually had a "Bird Strike Kill Board" for quite some time.  So yeah, we were into the whole bird strike trend before the rest of America was.  

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Starbuck,

Well, thank you, very much.

Dave D. at Small Wars Journal

SJ said...

I found it funny listening to NPR the other night how the reporter gave a caveat saying that only 100 people have died in bird strike accidents over the last two decades before he went into a three minute piece on how bird strikes are the bane of aircraft of all types.

If 100 people over twenty years is the threshold, I'm surprised we don't have front page exposes about people choking on toast.

Starbuck said...

I'd recommend picking up the official Fark.com book for more on media scare stories. It's a good (not to mention hilarious) criticism of mainstream media.