Try and shake this out of your head next time you board a plane: aircrafts are struck everyday by birds - you just don't hear about it because they're designed to take these impacts. However, once you get large flocks or bigger birds striking a plane, this can totally take an engine out: which is what happened to a jetliner in New York a few years back. Dozens of passengers had a lucky escape when the plane's engines were said to have been struck by a flock of Canada geese, weighing from 3lb to 12lb. If these geese hit the plane at lift off, this is the equivalent to a 1000 lb object being dropped from the height of 3 metres. Definitely enough to make an impact on your holiday flight. More than 200 deaths have been the result of wildlife collisions with aeroplanes since 1988, and not just through impact. Serious accidents can occur when gulls and geese are sucked into the jet engine and strike an engine fan blade. The impact then affects another blade, and the result? Catastrophic engine failure. Gulp.