Southwest Plane Makes Emergency Landing After 'Bird Strikes'

Foxnews ^ | 3/6/23 | Brian Pfail

[CFIIIMEIATP737]

The air going into the cabin comes from the compressor section of the engine. It’s just compressed air, which is what, about 78% nitrogen?

[rdl6989]

I didn’t either.

[Paal Gulli]

"“Bird Strikes” - I’ve scrubbed a ton of blenderized birds off of fan blades. Cuts down on fuel efficiency."

It's not just about economy, it also can promote compressor stall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressor_stall#Factors_which_erode_compressor_surge_margin

[Psalm 73]

"...it also can promote compressor stall."

Lived this for many years - scariest part of the engine-test was surge-margin check - we'd manually close the bleed valve while up in power and back the engine down until the compressor stalled - always gave me the creeps.

(A quick opening of the bleed valve would usually allow the engine to recover).