Is a bird substantial enough to break turbine blades?

The crew from the E-8 AWACS that crashed on take off in at Elmendorf
AFB, Anchorage AK had a flock of geese take out their engines killing
the entire crew. Up until then for some reason Elemdorf was
considered a wildlife sanctuary for the most part. After that they
decided to start trying to get rid of the birds on the airfield. I've
also seen some pretty rough looking C-5 engines after getting into
some seagulls but for the most part it depends on the size of the bird
and where it hits on the fan and how much goes through the compressor.

Gary


On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 21:38:54 -0800, "BT" wrote:

dependent on the size or quantity of bird(s)
the first impact can substantially damage the first or second stages.. and
the inlet guide vanes..
damaged blades and vans can then be ingested into the rest of the engine
causing catastrophic failure

ask a few military pilots who have survived it..
and a few you cannot ask because they did not..
BT

"Ricky" wrote in message
...

Bertie!

(Or anyone who may want to speculate)

I'm in the last stages of A&P training (already a "P") but I can't
figure out if a big bird would be substantial enough to break
conpressor blades, or interior compressor or turbine blades for that
matter.
I'm guessing the first stage blades would turn the bird into soup. I
also know that first (and second & sometimes later stage) blades are
usually made of much harder material to absorb fod.
I'm also aware that sometimes an abrasive grit is used in turbine &
compressor washes so the blades are understandably very, very tough,
especially with the extreme temps of interior turbine blades.
So, after watching the 757 bird ingestion my college-A&P mind is
trying to figure out exactly what happened, why the turbofan spit fire
and such.
I asked an instructor today & he said the first stage blades likely
will break with a large bird and, of course, cause chaos the rest of
the way through the engine. He also said that small birds can pass
through without even being noticed.
So I'm guessing that exactly what happened is likely up to a wide
range of speculation until you could get into the engine and see but
I'm still curious of ya'll's speculation, too (ya'll's; that's Texan!)

Ricky