NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DCA15CA037
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
an inadvertent encounter with birds during approach to land that resulted in substantial damage.
Factual narrative
On December 12, 2014, about 2030 eastern standard time, Southwest Airlines flight 3118, a Boeing 737-76N, registration N7710A, encountered multiple bird strikes while on approach to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Baltimore, Maryland. None of the passengers or crew members were injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 121 as a domestic passenger flight and originated from San Antonio International Airport, San Antonio, Texas. The captain stated that while descending through about 2,500 feet on approach to land the airplane struck multiple birds. Inspection of the airplane after landing reveled substantial damage to the 178 forward pressure bulkhead and left wing fixed leading edge main rib. On December 12, 2014, about 2030 eastern standard time, Southwest Airlines flight 3118, a Boeing 737-76N, registration N7710A, encountered multiple bird strikes while on approach to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Baltimore, Maryland. None of the passengers or crew members were injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 121 as a domestic passenger flight and originated from San Antonio International Airport, San Antonio, Texas. The captain stated that while descending through about 2,500 feet on approach to land the airplane struck multiple birds. Inspection of the airplane after landing reveled substantial damage to the 178 forward pressure bulkhead and left wing fixed leading edge main rib. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- C Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Animal(s)/bird(s)-Contributed to outcome - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2014_DCA15CA037.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
A preliminary study of a wake vortex encounter hazard boundary for a B737-100 airplane
A preliminary batch simulation study was conducted to define the wake decay required for a Boeing 737-100 airplane to safely encounter a Boeing 727 wake and land.
- NASA NTRS 2018 · Other
A Numerical Simulation Study to Develop an Acceptable Wake Encounter Boundary for a B737-100 Airplane
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is conducting research with the goal of enabling safe improvements in the capacity of the nation's air transportation system.
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper
A Training Study to Improve Monitoring During A Go-Around
As part of an FAA program to improve go-around (GA) safety, we were asked to determine if we could improve the performance of the Pilot Monitoring (PM) during a GA maneuver.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Radar detection of wake vortex behind the aircraft: the detection range problem
In this study, we showcased the detection of the wake vortex produced by a medium aircraft at distances exceeding 10 km using an X-band pulse-Doppler radar.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper
Airline Pilot Risk Profiling by Using Unstable Approach Management Case
Risk and human decision-making cannot be separated from each other. Many of theories and studies have tried to analyze pilots’ decision-making processes, risk factors, and preference behavior in the a…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Journal article (IJAAA)
Historical Research and the case for a Fifth Component of SMS
Abstract Three tragic events from aviation history were examined using a Historical Research and Case Study Method. The events explored were the disasters of the Airship R101 (1930), the Space Shuttle…
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