Apr 13, 2007 7:15 pm US/Central
Bird Flies Into Engine Of Cheney's Plane
Vice President Travels To Chicago To Blast Dems In Congress
by Mike Puccinelli
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Vice President Dick Cheney gets off his plane in Chicago.
CBS
Vice president Dick Cheney pulled no punches against the Democrats Friday, during his Chicago visit to address a conservative group at the Ritz Carlton. He attacked Democrats on everything from diplomacy to the war in Iraq.
"Above all, the Democrats' attempt to micromanage our commanders is an unwise and perilous endeavor," Cheney said.
And Cheney almost had a perilous flight to Chicago because of a run-in between a bird and his plane.
As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports, wildlife getting caught in engines is a troubling trend in the aviation world.
As Airforce Two taxied to the awaiting vice presidential motorcade everything looked normal.
But moments after the vice President got into his limousine and drove away, mechanics started giving one of the engines the once over.
On the approach to landing a bird hit one of the plane's engines.
"It's very rare that there's any life-threatening effect from a bird strike of a commercial aircraft, that's for sure," said Northwestern University professor Aaron Gellman.
But the technical experts weren't taking any chances with Airforce two even climbing into the engine to check the housing and airflow ducts.
The Federal Aviation Administration, the Chicago Department of Aviation and the Airline Pilot's Association were not willing to talk on-camera about what happened to the vice president's plane.
"It can do enough damage to shut down an engine," Gellman said.
Or cause them to catch fire, as was the case with American Airlines Flight 1374 in 2004.
"All of a sudden we heard this tremendous bang," said Jon Bernaden, a passenger on that flight. "We were pretty lucky that the pilot and the engine did exactly what they were supposed to do."
The vice president's plane did just that and was cleared for takeoff without any delay.
Federal biologists fight the bird problem at O'Hare by disrupting their habitat – covering ponds, lighting off fireworks and restricting the type of trees and bushes that are allowed to grow near the airport.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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