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Sudanese Airplane Hits Huge Bird before Landing

A Boeing 737 MAX takes off during a flight test in Renton, Washington January 29, 2016. | File Reuters
A Boeing 737 MAX takes off during a flight test in Renton, Washington January 29, 2016. | File Reuters
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Sudanese Airplane Hits Huge Bird before Landing

A Boeing 737 MAX takes off during a flight test in Renton, Washington January 29, 2016. | File Reuters
A Boeing 737 MAX takes off during a flight test in Renton, Washington January 29, 2016. | File Reuters

A Sudanese airline has called on authorities at the Khartoum International Airport to address the “bird phenomenon” and its threats against aviation, people, and properties.

This call came after one of the company’s airplanes survived a disaster after it hit a huge seasonal bird, following its take-off from Ad Damazeen Airport.

The jet safely landed at Khartoum airport, but the crash caused serious damage to the aircraft's nose, just metres from the pilot's cockpit.

In a press release, the Badr Airlines, owner of the damaged jet, said the J4-314 flight took off on schedule from Damazeen Airport heading to Khartoum, but, "it crashed into a huge seasonal bird after about 45 minutes in the air, which caused serious damages in the jet’s nose."

The pilot was able to land normally at Khartoum Airport, thanks to the instructions mentioned in the jet’s operating guide.

All passengers were safe and were not affected by the accident. Media sources reported that the bird that caused the incident is one of the giant eagles that migrate to the country in the fall, and is locally known as the «bald hawk».

Badr Airlines said the incident is not "normal". But, the company dealt with the situation properly, which led to a safe and normal landing, without affecting the passengers.

Badr called the authorities of Khartoum Airport to put an end to the “bird phenomenon” threatening lives and properties.

This accident is not the first of its kind. In September 2016, about 108 passengers and a six-member crew survived a disastrous crash in a Boeing 737, heading from El Fasher west of the country to Khartoum.

The later hit an eagle in the air, and the collision caused a large hole in its outer structure, which obliged it to return, and to land safely at El Fasher airport.

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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.

Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year's most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China's eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.

Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.

Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world's land area had seen a rise in "precipitation variability" or wider swings between wet and dry weather.

Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.

"(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods," said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study.

"This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods."

FEWER, BUT MORE INTENSE, STORMS

Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behavior of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful.

"I believe higher water vapor in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena," Sherwood told Reuters.

Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.

While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan's Nagoya University.

"In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favorable condition for tropical cyclone development," she said.

In its "blue paper" on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.

Taiwan also said in its climate change report published in May that climate change was likely to reduce the overall number of typhoons in the region while making each one more intense.

The decrease in the number of typhoons is due to the uneven pattern of ocean warming, with temperatures rising faster in the western Pacific than the east, said Feng Xiangbo, a tropical cyclone research scientist at the University of Reading.

Water vapor capacity in the lower atmosphere is expected to rise by 7% for each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures, with tropical cyclone rainfall in the United States surging by as much as 40% for each single degree rise, he said.