Why don't airplanes have a mesh protecting the engines?

As I understand it jet engines are designed to allow for things to get sucked in and blown out the back. I have heard that when jet engines are tested by having frozen turkeys thrown into them. Mesh would have a tendency to catch things and reduce air intake. That wouldn’t be too good. I think the New York incident was extreme in the fact that both engines sucked in multiple birds. Had it happened to one engine there might not have been a problem.

I used to have an intense fear of flying so I’ve done all sorts of reading on subjects like this.

I’ve actually been wondering the same thing. My thought is that anything you put in front of the engine that is strong enough to deflect a high speed impact would impede airflow. Any engineers out there know for sure?

I would not want anything impeding air flow into the jet engine I was depending on. How ‘bout you?

@Jbor. You and everyone above ^^^ have it right – obstructions over the front of the engine intakes will in fact impede the airflow into the engine and decrease the thrust output. Aircraft are engineered to fly on fewer engines, if needed, if one or more of the engines malfunctions or suffers a catastrophic event (which could certainly be a bird strike).

Birds get sucked in. If you had a mesh, the bird would just get stuck on the mesh, for the entire flight, which would cause a lot of strain for long flights. Or it would sucked through the mesh, and you’d end up in the same situation.

All jet airplane engines designed today are 5 to 1 High Bypass Ratio. This means that 80% of the air that enters the engine goes straight through. 20% of the air is what gives it thrust. Anything that blocks the engine, even mesh, would impede the 20% in turn causing a reduction in power. Also, if the mesh is there and you hit a bird, the feathers that got stuck in the mesh would block the air entering and exiting the engine.

Not to mention that if a foreign object is large enough to hurt the engine, it is likely that it is large enough to puncture or otherwise destroy the mesh, causing even more damage to the engine.