# Could a large bird bring down a whole Airliner?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-large-bird-bring-down-a-whole-airliner/92932>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 12, 2001, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-large-bird-bring-down-a-whole-airliner/92932 "2001-11-12T16:49:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-large-bird-bring-down-a-whole-airliner/92932/41 "2001-11-14T19:18:28Z")

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**colibri** wrote:

> [@](#):
>
> The bird strike hypothesis is looking increasing probable, as they have now found “foreign debris” inside one of the engines that apparently caused it to catch on fire.

Well, that still might not rule out terrorism, at least according to this scenario I thought of last night.

Falconry, the sport of training birds to hunt prey, is popular in some parts of the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, where bin Laden lived as a boy. As it happens, Peregrine falcons can be found in Manhattan, nesting on various skyscrapers, most notably the Chrysler Building.

So, an al-Qaida operative (or any random nut-job) could get some falcons in NYC (perhaps even some that until recently lived on the WTC), train them to hunt down and attack a passenger jet, and thus commit a virtually untraceable act of terror.  
No, I don’t take this seriously, and neither should you.

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