Bird Hit on Air Flights?

Question

Why is a Bird Hit incident serious issue for an air flight? Although, bird is significantly smaller than an aircraft.

Answer 1

Simply put, because the airplane is going FAST.  Hitting even something as tiny as a bird at that speed can cause damage.

As the others have said, the most common things are engine damage and cracked cockpit window.

It's similar to how they say dropping a penny off of a tall building can kill someone below.

Answer 2

bird hit hits on aircraft usually go un noticed less the bird gets drawn into the jet engine which damages the jet engines blades and can cause the aircraft to loose that engine

Answer 3

The potential energy in a bird strike is massive, if it hits the windscreen of the cockit head on it could crack/shatter it - it can also potentially shatter fan blades in the engine - which could cause loss of thrust or loss of the engine altogether. However it would usually take a double birdstrike atleast for the engine to go completely.