Wildlife Strikes to Civil Aircraft in the United States 1990-2007

The civil and military aviation communities widely recognize that the threat to human health and safety from aircraft collisions with wildlife (wildlife strikes) is increasing (Dolbeer 2000, MacKinnon et al. 2001). Globally, wildlife strikes have killed more than 219 people and destroyed over 200 aircraft since 1988 (Richardson and West 2000; Thorpe 2003; 2005; Dolbeer, unpublished data). Three factors that contribute to this increasing threat are: 1. Many populations of wildlife species commonly involved in strikes have increased markedly in the last few decades and adapted to living in urban environments, including airports. 2. Concurrent with population increases of many large bird species, air traffic has increased substantially since 1980. 3. Commercial air carriers are replacing their older three- or four-engine aircraft fleets with more efficient and quieter, two-engine aircraft. Previous research has indicated that birds are less able to detect and avoid modern jet aircraft with quieter engines than older aircraft with noisier engines. This report presents a summary analysis of data from the FAA’s National Wildlife Strike Database for the 18-year period 1990 through 2007.

• Record URL:
  http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=birdstrikeother
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Federal Aviation Administration

  800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20591

  Department of Agriculture

  Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
  Washington, DC  United States  20250
• Authors:
  • Dolbeer, Richard A
  • Wright, Sandra E
• Publication Date: 2008-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 69p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air transportation crashes; Aviation safety; Bird strikes; Civil aircraft
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01128911
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: May 19 2009 7:49AM