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NATIONAL BRIEFING / WASHINGTON, D.C.

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TIMES STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

It is “not reasonable” to expect airplane engines to withstand any magnitude of bird strike, a federal safety expert said, urging a concerted effort to prevent incidents like the one that forced US Airways Flight 1549 to land in the Hudson River in January.

In its final day of hearings into the accident, in which the Airbus A320 lost thrust in both engines after hitting a flock of Canada geese, the National Transportation Safety Board debated engine safety requirements and bird strikes.

Robert Ganley, who oversees engine and propeller standards for the Federal Aviation Administration, said that when the turbine-powered engine model on Flight 1549 was certified in the 1990s, it met requirements that it withstand a collision with up to a 4-pound bird or several smaller ones.

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The FAA has since revised the standards, so that the same engine tested today would be required to ingest a bird weighing 6 pounds.

Tests found remains of Canada geese, which typically weigh about 8 pounds, in both of Flight 1549’s engines.

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