Aero-News: Quote of the Day

ANN's Quote of the Day usually derives from current news, though we reserve the right to pick quotes out of history that have a bearing on the day's events and issues.

Sometimes, you'll find them timely and in keeping with the content of the day's news... and sometimes, they'll just be thought-provoking.

Reader suggestions and comments are welcome... and if particularly intriguing, timely, or poignant, may themselves become future Quotes of the Day.

Let us hear from you, folks!

Aero-News Quote of the Day

"Our expert said that a cormorant is chunkier, meatier and has more bones than a looser, watery bird. Once ingested by the engine, it would have a harder time getting through the fan blades of the turbine."

Source: American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan in an interview with the Chicago Tribune, saying that AAL Super 80 flying over Chicago didn't actually ingest a goose or a duck as first thought. No, it was actually a double-breasted cormorant, which, as one expert said, "looks similar to a goose, especially at high speed." Glen Kruse, manager of restoration ecology at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, told the Tribune, "I doubt a pilot would know the difference between the birds." The cormorant was once on the federal list of endangered species. The bird that flew into the Super 80's number one engine is, in fact, extinct.

FMI: www.audobon.org