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A B737-700 declared an emergency and diverted to another airport after suffering multiple bird strikes and subsequent engine vibrations shortly after takeoff.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 962257 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201107 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Tower |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737-700 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Takeoff |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Turbine Engine |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 224 Flight Crew Type 3000 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Bird / Animal |
Narrative:
Just after rotation I noticed a flock of about 30-40 birds coming into our flight path from the left. I was the pilot flying and called the birds as did the captain. I pitched the nose up above the normal climb out attitude to try to avoid the flock but still hit at least one bird avoiding the bulk of the flock. We instantly noticed a vibration coming from the engine(s) and the tower called us within a few seconds to tell us they didn't think our engines were sounding normal as we climbed away from the runway. We both looked at the engine instruments and saw nothing unusual except the engine vibe gauges slowly climbing. We requested a turn to the west up the valley and continued our climb to 5;000 ft to assess the problem. Once level and with the power back; the noise went away but we decided to head to a nearby airport for a precautionary landing; not wanting to use high thrust settings anymore. We declared an emergency as a precaution and briefed the flight attendants and passengers and diverted for a normal landing. Once at the gate; we visually inspected the engines and found three to four fan blades on the #1 engine bent near the outer edges.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A B737-700 declared an emergency and diverted to another airport after suffering multiple bird strikes and subsequent engine vibrations shortly after takeoff.
Narrative: Just after rotation I noticed a flock of about 30-40 birds coming into our flight path from the left. I was the pilot flying and called the birds as did the Captain. I pitched the nose up above the normal climb out attitude to try to avoid the flock but still hit at least one bird avoiding the bulk of the flock. We instantly noticed a vibration coming from the engine(s) and the Tower called us within a few seconds to tell us they didn't think our engines were sounding normal as we climbed away from the runway. We both looked at the engine instruments and saw nothing unusual except the engine vibe gauges slowly climbing. We requested a turn to the west up the valley and continued our climb to 5;000 FT to assess the problem. Once level and with the power back; the noise went away but we decided to head to a nearby airport for a precautionary landing; not wanting to use high thrust settings anymore. We declared an emergency as a precaution and briefed the flight attendants and passengers and diverted for a normal landing. Once at the gate; we visually inspected the engines and found three to four fan blades on the #1 engine bent near the outer edges.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.