The Wildlife Strike Problem

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Purpose

The purpose of this portion of the web site is to accumulate information about wildlife mitigation at airports in a manner that serves both the novice and more experienced wildlife officer or other person interested in this topic.

Each chapter/sub-unit of this portion of the web site contains a brief overview and then a series of articles, article titles, and/or web sites which the user can use to fit his/her needs.

FAA Guidelines - Legal Issues

Certified Airport Operator's responsibilities with respect to hazardous wildlife issues - 14 CFR 139 Section 139.337 (MS PowerPoint, 838 KB).

Introduction

Sharing both the sky and the airport environment with birds and other wildlife has been a safety and economic concern to aviation personnel since the days of the Wright Brothers. Orville Wright documented the first known bird strike during a flight over a corn field near Dayton, Ohio in 1905.

Since Orville and Wilbur Wright's days to the present day, conflicts between wildlife and airplanes have caused damage to aircraft and loss of human life. These conflicts appear to have increased in recent years. Presently, over $600 million dollars annually is lost due to wildlife strikes with civil aircraft in the United States alone.

There are many factors effecting today's concern about wildlife and aviation safety, three of these factors are. 1) As jet travel replaced the more noisy and slower piston-powered aircraft, the chance of these jets colliding with wildlife increased. 2) Along with the change in mode of travel there has been an increase in air traffic worldwide, both military and commercial. 3) Natural habitat surrounds many modern airports and this habitat provides shelter, nesting area, and feeding areas for wildlife that is not usually present in the surrounding metropolitan area. These results in a majority of wildlife strikes occur within the immediate airport environment (FAA manual).

The following references provide general discussions of the bird strike problem:

• Control Procedures Manual:Transport Canada Wildlife Control Manual
• "Bye Bye, Birdies: Brief discussion of the bird strike problem from NASA.
• Migratory Season Heightens Hazard Of Bird Strikes: Article discussing bird strike problem
• Canadian Study Finds Greatest Frequency of Bird Strikes...: Transport Canada bird strike statistics