A helicopter anti-bird-collision system including a search light (2) and a control unit (35) which is configured for operating the search light (2) in a flash light mode by switching the search light periodically on and off.

An aircraft includes the aircraft component. The aircraft component includes an outer skin portion, a plurality of major stiffeners, and a plurality of minor stiffeners. The outer skin portion has an interior side and an exterior side configured to define an exterior boundary of the aircraft. The major stiffeners are integral with the outer skin portion and extend out from the interior side. The major stiffeners are configured to resist global deflection of the aircraft component in response to a bird strike on the aircraft component. The minor stiffeners are disposed between the major stiffeners, are integral with the outer skin portion, and extend out from the interior side. The minor stiffeners are configured to resist perforation of the aircraft component in response to the bird strike on the aircraft component.

An anterior part of a nacelle of an aircraft propulsion unit. A rigidifying frame annular about a longitudinal axis of extension of the nacelle is at the rear end of the anterior part. An annular shield is in front of the rigidifying frame and connects an internal peripheral edge of the rigidifying frame to an internal structure. The shield has a portion extending towards the external panel beyond the internal peripheral edge of the rigidifying frame, the portion forming a non-zero angle with respect to the rigidifying frame to form a free space with respect to the rigidifying frame behind the portion. The shield can thus deform in the event of an impact of a foreign object entering through the air inlet lip, without the rigidifying frame itself being deformed, thereby absorbing all or some of the impact energy. A nacelle can have such an anterior part, and an aircraft can have such a nacelle.

A real-time aircraft bird congestion indicator system for measuring congestion in an airspace between aircraft and birds uses one or more radars to continuously survey an airspace around an airport or aerodrome and continuously generate aircraft tracks and bird tracks in the airspace. A congestion processor connected to the radar(s) receives the aircraft and bird tracks and processes them to periodically generate a congestion indicator that measures the congestion in the airspace. A display processor connected to the congestion processor receives the congestion indicator which is updated periodically by the congestion processor and displays the congestion indicator to a user, generates an alert if the congestion indicator falls outside set operating limits, and/or sends the congestion indicator or alert to another system.

An aircraft and method of deterring avian species from the aircraft include a lighting system including a lighting assembly coupled to the exterior. The lighting assembly includes an ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting element that emits UV light outside of the aircraft.

A tiltrotor controls shield having a blade or wire substructure under a fragile spinner fairing improves bird strike durability. The present disclosure discloses a spinner wind fairing with a shield structure disposed thereunder for providing protection to the proprotor assembly components. The shield structure can segment a projectile, such as a bird, that penetrates the spinner fairing into a series of smaller and lower energy elements spread across a wider area, such that the rotor components can withstand the impact of the smaller elements without damage.

An impact resistant dorsal fin structure of an aircraft comprises an upper support and ballistic material layer, wherein the ballistic material layer is configured to be joined to an aircraft fuselage and the ballistic material layer is arranged in a sliding manner around a sliding surface of the upper support.

An optical foreign object detection (FOD) system for a gas turbine engine includes a multiple of emitters arranged about an inner periphery of a fan cowl, a multiple or receivers arranged about the inner periphery of the fan cowl, each of the multiple of receivers receiving a beam from one of the multiple of emitters to form a beam matrix; and a control system in communication with the multiple of emitters and the multiple of receivers, the control system operable to detect a minimum sized object in response to breaking at least one beam of the beam matrix.

A wildlife deterrence aircraft lighting apparatus includes at least one species deterrent LED to provide non-lethal deterrence of avian species (i.e., birds) within a deterrence area in an immediate flight path of an aircraft. The species deterrent LED may be configured to emit mono-colored light at a wavelength within a sensitivity range of a short-wavelength-sensitive (SWS) photoreceptor of at least one avian species and with a light intensity in at least a portion of the deterrence area sufficient to induce an augmented behavioral response. The lighting apparatus may also control the species deterrent LED(s) and aircraft lighting LED(s) independently and may provide voltage control and temperature control to enable the wildlife deterrence function without interfering with the aircraft lighting functions. The lighting apparatus may further be configured to reduce luminous flux loss and to provide thermal management to accommodate both wildlife deterrence and aircraft lighting functions.

An aircraft flow body comprising a rib bounded by and fixedly attached to an outer skin, wherein the outer skin and the rib are configured to plastically deform when the outer skin is subjected to an impact load in a leading edge region of the airflow body, wherein the stiffness of the outer skin is greater than or equal to the stiffness of the rib when deformed by the impact load.