FAA data: Bird strikes frequent at airports

Under public pressure after geese knocked out both engines of a US Airways jet that was forced to land in the Hudson River on Jan. 15, the federal government yesterday opened its records on more than 100,000 reports of birds colliding with aircraft.

The records show that airplanes struck birds 16 to 74 times a year after takeoff, en route, or upon landing at Philadelphia International Airport between 1990 and 2008.

The good news: None of the incidents resulted in a destroyed aircraft or human fatality, according to the Federal Aviation Administration data.

Pilots and airline personnel reported 879 bird strikes at the Philadelphia airport in the 19 years covered by the FAA's Bird Strike database.

Thirty-two of the bird-plane collisions were considered "substantial," causing structural damage, such as a hole in the wing or a bent blade, or destroying an engine.

Topping the list of airports where planes were either substantially damaged or destroyed by birds since 2000 were John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, with 30 such accidents, and Sacramento International Airport in California, with 28 reported serious strikes.

Philadelphia International had 10 such damaging strikes since 2000, FAA data showed.

Nationally, airplane collisions with birds more than doubled at 13 major U.S. airports from 2000, and 11 people died in plane collisions with birds or deer from 1990 on.

Because reporting strikes is voluntary, the FAA estimates only 20 percent are reported. Most strikes involve small birds and no aircraft damage. Airline mechanics sometimes discover bird damage when servicing planes.

Bird strikes are common around almost every U.S. airport. Many occur miles from airport property.

The primary responsibility for reducing bird strikes falls to airports.

Philadelphia International, which is surrounded by two rivers and a wildlife refuge that attract birds, has two full-time wildlife biologists and a 35-person operations staff that monitors the airfield and a five-mile radius surrounding the airport 24 hours a day to prevent birds from nesting.

Among the 32 most damaging bird-plane collisions in Philadelphia over the last 19 years were these:

March 5, 1997 - A US Airways captain felt a bird "glance off" the side of the fuselage after takeoff. A radome, or radar housing, collapsed, and air speed began fluctuating. The plane made an emergency landing.

Oct. 20, 1999 - An American Airlines MD-80 climbing at 200 feet hit a gull. There was a burning smell in the cabin, and the plane started to shake. There was an emergency landing, and an engine was reported as a complete loss.

Dec. 1, 1999 - An American Airlines B-727 climbing at 5,000 feet hit two to 10 birds five to eight miles west of the airport. An engine shut down, and the plane returned for a precautionary landing. The crew found a hole in the wing and an engine destroyed. Repairs cost $449,000.

Aug. 23, 2000 - An Evergreen International Airlines B-747 aborted takeoff after flying through a flock of 30 geese, sucking one or two into an engine. The high-speed aborted takeoff resulted in nine flat tires. Repairs cost $3 million.

Sept. 29, 2007 - An AirTran Airways B-737-700, after takeoff at 3,000 feet, struck several Canada geese, shattering the windshield and cutting the copilot in the face. After an emergency landing, a large goose was removed.

Planes have been hitting birds since soon after the Wright brothers' first flight in 1903. The reporting of collisions has risen dramatically since the FAA began tracking bird strikes in 1990.

Archie Dickey, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University who developed and runs the national FAA bird-strike database, said it was important that the FAA make bird-strike reporting mandatory.

"There are two problems with the database," Dickey said. "There's only a 20 to 22 percent report rate. When you start comparing airports, the airport that has the most strikes may be the airport that's doing the best job of reporting."

Most bird strikes occur during takeoff and landing, when airplanes are flying at lower altitudes, under 3,000 feet, he said.

The population of some bird species, particularly large ones such as Canada geese, has increased over the last 15 years, Dickey said. Since the banning of pesticides and environmental efforts to clean up of rivers and pollution, some species have proliferated.

"The assumption is because we have more of those birds, more geese, more cormorants, there is a higher chance of them being struck," he said.