It's Supposed to Fly in Nuclear War. A Bird Took It Down

'Hulking' E-6B Mercury aircraft temporarily grounded after bird gets sucked into engine
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 18, 2019 10:42 AM CDT
Updated Oct 20, 2019 6:42 AM CDT
It's Supposed to Fly in Nuclear War. A Bird Took It Down
In this 2010 photo, birds that were feeding on grass near the runway swarm upward as a Navy E-6B plane makes touch-and-go landings at the Fort Smith Regional Airport in Fort Smith, Ark. A bird strike has just caused $2 million damage to another E-6B.   (AP Photo/The Southwest Times Record, Kaia Larsen, File)

A military "doomsday" aircraft that's supposed to serve as a command post during nuclear war got brought down by something much simpler than a nuke earlier this month: a bird. Per the Navy Times, an E-6B Mercury was trying to land at Maryland's Naval Air Station Patuxent River on Oct. 2 during maneuvers when a feathered not-friend flew into one of the aircraft's four engines, grounding the plane temporarily and causing at least $2 million in damages. No one was injured during the incident, and the engine was replaced. It's not clear what type of bird hit the aircraft. The E-6B Mercury, referred to as "America's most terrifying plane," is part of the Navy's "Take Charge and Move Out" initiative, a system of communications links designed to keep key decision-makers in touch during a nuclear attack.

But despite what the Washington Post calls its "hulking" design and ability to fly thousands of nautical miles at a clip, at speeds of up to 600mph, the aircraft, like all other planes, "does not come equipped with a foolproof defense against birds." This has been classified as the fifth "Class A" mishap—one that comes with at least $2 million in damages, or that causes death or permanent disability—involving bird strikes in 10 years, including another one involving an E-6B aircraft last year. Live Science notes that a variety of bird-strike prevention programs have been implemented to cut down on the thousands of incidents like this that happen to both military and civilian aircraft each year. (More bird strike stories.)

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