Student’s bird is flying high

University of Brighton final year Aeronautical Engineer BEng(Hons) student Joshua Gere has launched a start-up business ‘DroneAvion.com’ with a team of engineers and with sponsorship from Santander Universities.

Of the 3,042 bird strikes involving a UK aircraft between 2013 and 2017, 4.5% involved damage to the aircraft, although most of the damage was considered superficial, according to the Civil Aviation Authority. In 2017, there were 280 cases where birds were ingested by jet engines, 40 of which involved damage to the aircraft.

For smaller aircraft, significant damage may be caused to the aircraft structure and all aircraft, especially jet-engine ones, are vulnerable to the loss of thrust which can follow the ingestion of birds into engine air intakes. This has resulted in a number of fatal accidents around the world.

Joshua Gere with colleagues and the drone prototype

Joshua Gere

Joshua and colleagues are working on an unmanned aerial vehicle or drone, without propellers, designed to look like a bird of prey to scare off flocks from near airports to reduce strikes. The drone’s body will be interchangeable to represent any one of several birds of prey including falcon, buzzard, and kestrel.

He said: “Lecturers at the university are helping with the development and calculations, and we will be speaking about the project with officials at a major airport.”

• Joshua has been approached by Pearson Education, the education publishing and assessment service with a view to taking part in a series of videos aimed at inspiring future aeronautical engineers.