Mar
28

Sidedoor: The Feather Detective

Look—up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Yikes! It’s a bird and a plane in a head-on collision!
In this episode of Sidedoor, we meet Roxy Laybourne, one of the first scientists to figure out how a bird weighing a few ounces can bring down a multi-ton aircraft.

Graphic for Sidedoor episode 3.15

In 1960, investigators found dark bits of feather stuck inside a crashed airplane’s engines. They needed someone to figure out what bird they belonged to—and how that bird took down a 110,000-pound plane. Enter Roxie Laybourne, a Smithsonian bird expert who not only answered that question, but also invented the science of using feathers to solve bird-related mysteries. This time on Sidedoor, we revisit some of Roxie’s greatest cases and learn how she and her team helped keep the friendly skies friendly for both birds and people.

 

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Posted: 28 March 2019
About the Author:

Jessica Sadeq has worked in the Central Office of Public Affairs since June 2007. She is the Marketing Manager for the Office of Communications and External Affairs.