FlyDL

I can see Ron Popeil collaborating with Rolls Royce to make a "Set it & Forget It" Trent 1,000,000! It really cuts the fat.

sailingfun

The MIG only uses the system for taxi on the ground at idle. When power is applied for takeoff the ramps open and air is drawn through the normal intakes. The point where a engine needs the best airflow is the highest power settings. This is why screens or other intake obstructions would never work. In addition a intake grate would have to be so strong to obsorb a impact from a 20lb goose at 300 knots it would be a huge weight increase. Even if it did keep the bird out of the engine the remains would disrupt airflow so much the engine would still more then likely have to be shutdown.

FlyDL

Great points. I had always wondered about that but figured that there was a damn good reason why they hadn't as of yet implemented any kind of bird screen. My idea for a simple (but probably ineffective) bird/FOD screen would have been something like this:

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/display...htU&skey=J7l30
Please excuse the lack of perspective and such, I made it in Paint in one minute. The black lines are guide wires that wouldn't obstruct airflow too much and wouldn't weigh too much. The problem with this design is that instead of deflecting FOD, it might instead just serve to chop it and allow the FOD to continue right on into the turbine. Still a good exercise in theory

USMCFLYR

And unless those guide wires were heated it looks like a pefect place for ice to form right before it falls off and is directed in the intake!

USMCFLYR

STILL GROUNDED

Maybe we need all that power down low to get the damn thing up to altitude. Maybe we should let the really smart people that determine this thing will fly at all with a pencil and paper decide how to handle it. OR, maybe we don't do anything about it and wait for an unsuccessful outcome of an accident and let congress determine what is best. Who says everyone gets to live?

USMCFLYR

Some of the best ideas come from outside the establishment maybe? Man...that last sentence is kind of rough don't you think?

USMCFLYR

tomgoodman

The A-37 had inlet screens to prevent ground FOD. They flipped back after takeoff, causing a noticeable increase in engine thrust.

Buckethead

Having lived until 16 years old not far from JFK, I know the area well.
Not only are there bird sanctuaries, as well as "protected" marsh areas, but JFK is also located near a rather large landfill. Additionally, it's right next to Jamaica Bay which hosts numerous, and rather large, Laughing Gulls. As well as Canada Geese. (Which, obviously, Sully learned about the hard way.) As well as literally thousand of other types of wildlife which take wing!
There was also an episode back in June of this year when 78 Diamondback Terrapin turtles invaded one of the runways. It caused delays of 90 minutes before the turtles were "coaxed" off the runways. (Coaxed? Or made into turtle soup?)

You may think it humorous that you receive memos such as you describe even at midnight but keep in mind that Canada Geese, although not necessarily nocturnal, will awaken and take flight at the slightest provocation.

I do find it, however, somewhat ludicrous that whomever it was who decided to build JFK (then Idlewild) at its location did not take any of this into consideration. I'm sure the surrounding population centers had something to do with this decision but to locate a major hub right next to known wetlands, marshes, sanctuaries, etc. seems a bit shortsided.

robthree

I think it was Robert Moses, who essentially planned NYC from the '30s to the '60s. He refused to let the Dodgers build a new stadium in Brooklyn, wanted them to move to the site of Shay Stadium in Queens.

The most surprising thing about building JFK next to a marsh is that they didn't drain and pave the whole thing. Ecology wasn't exactly a well respected science in the '40s.

Buckethead

And it certainly isn't going to be drained and paved now. You can be sure the environmentalists will halt any such ideas.

And, yes, it was indeed Robert Moses who designed most of NYC. Unfortunately for him, when he told the Dodgers to go play at the current location of Shea Stadium (now CitiField) they buggered off to the West Coast instead!