# Bird into jet engine. Why not have a mesh grating? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-into-jet-engine-why-not-have-a-mesh-grating/482496 "2009-01-22T19:06:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-into-jet-engine-why-not-have-a-mesh-grating/482496/1 "2009-01-22T19:06:19Z")
It seems that the whole crash of the jetliner in the Hudson river last week could have been avoided if they simply installed some cheap mesh grating over the front of the engine so that geese and other birds cannot be sucked in That may not prevent birds from being stuck on the mesh itself without being able to remove themselves, so why not a cone-shaped barrier instead? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-into-jet-engine-why-not-have-a-mesh-grating/482496/2 "2009-01-22T19:07:42Z")
Currently being discussed in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=502785). ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-into-jet-engine-why-not-have-a-mesh-grating/482496/3 "2009-01-22T19:55:13Z")
The answer eventually obtained was that any kind of effective mesh screen would produce an unacceptable loss of performance in the engine itself. ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-into-jet-engine-why-not-have-a-mesh-grating/482496/4 "2009-01-22T20:38:43Z")
My WAG is that, in such a design, instead of just a soft fleshy bird clunking about inside the engine, you now also have shards of the aluminum or steel you used to make the grating in there, slicing things apart. Putting a mesh grating over an airplane engine to keep birds out is like giving a Tic-Tac to a whale. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-into-jet-engine-why-not-have-a-mesh-grating/482496/5 "2009-01-22T20:53:04Z")
Ice buildup on the mesh was also mentioned. Either blocking the flow of air or having chunks breaking off an going into the engine are both bad things. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-into-jet-engine-why-not-have-a-mesh-grating/482496/6 "2009-01-22T21:01:23Z")
For the same reason that, even though a black box is “indestructible”, we don’t we build the whole plane out of black boxes. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-into-jet-engine-why-not-have-a-mesh-grating/482496/7 "2009-01-22T21:11:37Z")
I just read the other 3 topics dedicated to this. I can’t believe I missed those! :o ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-into-jet-engine-why-not-have-a-mesh-grating/482496/8 "2009-01-22T21:30:33Z")
Since there is an active thread on this, with links to other related threads, I am going to close this. Colibri General Questions Moderator