Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Logan International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Boston, Massachusetts 01902
Saturday, October 19, 2002 8:50 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Boeing 767 struck three birds during the initial climb out from runway 22. One double-crested cormorant was ingested by the #2 engine, another struck the right wing, and a third bird was found seriously injured on the runway. The airplane returned to the airport and landed uneventfully. Examination revealed damage to the right inboard leading edge slat, landing light, and the #2 engine bypass stator vanes. A review of the airport's Wildlife Hazard Management Plan revealed that on the morning of the incident, two wildlife technicians reported "heavy bird activity" to the control tower. The airport's Automated Terminal Information System (ATIS) was then updated to reflect the hazard, and was still active at the time of the incident. Prior to the airplane's take-off, one of the wildlife plan supervisors reported a flock of birds to the control tower and said they were flying about 200 feet over the approach end of runway 15, moving southbound. A tower controller responded that they had the birds in sight. Shortly thereafter, another airplane departed runway 22 without incident, then the incident airplane took off. A review of air traffic control communications revealed that no specific warning was given by the air traffic controllers to either of the crews, due to the fact that the birds were not in their flight path. It was believed that the flock then split into two or three separate flocks after the other airplane took off, with one of the flocks turning east and directly into the path of the incident airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An inadvertant collision with birds during the initial climb out.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 10/19/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 850 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | BOSTON |
| Event State | MASSACHUSETTS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 01902 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 422230N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0710010W |
| Event Location Airport | LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | BOS |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 20 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 854 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BOS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 20 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 8500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 10 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.06 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 128 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13827 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NE REGION OPS CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 19 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1000 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 26 2003 8:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | BOSTON FSFO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N607UA |
| NTSB Number | IAD03IA007 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | 767-222 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 21868 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | UNITED AIR LINES INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Chicago |
| Aircraft Owner State | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | UALA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | Yes |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BOS |
| Departure City | BOSTON |
| Departure State | MA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 850 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SFR |
| Destination City | SAN FRANSISCO |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 23 2003 9:58AM |
| User who most recently changed record | COXP |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 33L |
| Runway Length | 10081 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |