On April 10 2009,  United Airlines flight bound for Chicago had to return to the Sacramento airport after hitting a bird during takeoff.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the pilot of Flight 332 "acted out of an abundance of caution" after the bird struck the plane's nose cone on Thursday.

The plane, carrying 130 passengers, took off again about 90 minutes later after an inspection found no damage. No one on the plane was injured.

The Sacramento airport is in the Pacific flyway for migratory birds and reports more bird strikes annually than any other airport in the western United States.

On Jan. 15, a US Airways jet was forced to land in the Hudson River after hitting a flock of birds shortly after it took off from LaGuardia Airport in New York.

Accident happened just after US Airways flight 1549 (an Airbus 320) had taken off with more than 150 passengers and crew members from LaGuardia Airport in New York, en route to Charlotte, N.C., involved a flock of geese (or egrets), according to CBS News. Reports indicate no deaths or serious injuries. Birds were sucked into both engines causing both engines to fail.  The captain of the Flight, Captain Sully, received accord from the Press as a ‘hero’ for the professional manner he saved the occupants from injury in landing the stricken, powerless airplane expertly on the Hudson.)

“Apparently in this particular case it seems both engines were hit. If it was a flock of birds they flew thought it wouldn't be a surprise to me," a spokesman said.

(More than 200 people have been killed worldwide as a result of wildlife strikes with aircraft since 1988, according to Bird Strike Committee USA, and more than 5,000 bird strikes were reported by the U.S. Air Force in 2007.)

 remains, clled snarge, are sent to te Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identificati

(Bird and other wildlife strikes to aircraft result in more than $600 million in damage a year, according to Bird Strike Committee USA. Five jet airliners have had major accidents involving bird strikes since 1975, the committee says. In one case, about three dozen people died.

NASA worries about bird strikes, too.

During the July 2005 launch of Discovery on mission STS-114, a vulture soaring around the launch pad impacted the shuttle's external tank just after liftoff. With a vulture's average weight ranging from 3 to 5 pounds, a strike at a critical point on the shuttle - like the nose or wing leading thermal protection panels - could cause catastrophic damage to the vehicle.

NASA put safety measures into place in 2005 to reduce the odds of bird strikes with the shildlife collisions with aircraft cost U.S. civil aviation more than $470 million annually and po(The advent of powered-flight caused competition with the previous inhabitants of the atmosphere – birds. Mankind’s use of the atmosphere increased since he is here. Probability of collision with bird increased proportionately. The problem has really become serious since the dawn of the Jet Age after Second World War. )

The problem is not less than costly, in equipment damage, loss: the 1987 crash of the new USAF bomber, the B-1, following a bird-strike. It cost a staggering US$ 215, 323, 000. According to USAF bird strike data collected by the Bird collected by the Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) Team, it has cost the USAF close to US $ 346 million since 1974, averaging US $ 25 million annually, to repair replace damaged aircraft: the cost, in truth, could be more.)

(Not just military aviation, ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) receives 4,000 – 5,000 reports a year.

The cost in terms of human life is not small either. Till 1974, 130 deaths had been reported worldwide due to 9 civilian , and 65 military crashes following bird strikes. ICAO has recorded an additional 38 deaths from 1974 – 88 in member nations.)

(Due to the voluntary nature of civil aviation bird–strike reporting , a great deal of underreporting occurs, especially for minor bird strikes.  Much has been done to summarize statistics on bird strikes, based on data collected by various governments, organizations, but little has been done with the information, mainly because of the underreporting.)