Pratt & Whitney vs. British engine bird strike specification

2.5-pound chicken bird-strike spec. British engines failing, Pratt & Whitney passing. British observer visits, departs with parting line: "fresh, not frozen." Below freezing, dead chickens act as stiffer projectiles. Strength-vs-temperature lesson.

Here's a flock of birds around a British aircraft. This is an F-111, and this is the composite radar dome, the nose of the aircraft, that hit a bird. The brittle composite just breaks up into a bunch of little fibers. This is a Pratt & Whitney engine after a bird strike. This is actually the leg of a bird sitting on the back of a tail wing. They have to test the engines, and I think it's a two-and-a-half-pound chicken. Years ago they came up with this spec, and the British were having a hard time passing it. Pratt & Whitney was having no problem. So the British sent over a guy from England to watch the bird-strike tests. They take a real engine — $5 million engine — and they throw a bird in it. Now, it's a dead bird. I've got a story about live birds, but that's another story.