May 18, 2009

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will made its entire bird strike database available recently. Portions of the database have been publicly available since the information was first collected in 1990, but the public will now be able to access all of the database’s fields.

Harassing hawks is one small part of Steve Osmek ’s job as the wildlife biologist at Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle, Washington. His job is to keep track of every animal that can run, fly, hop, crawl or glide around the airport, and figure out how to keep these critters out of the path of the giant hunks of steel and machinery that hurtle through every three minutes. Sea-Tac was the first airport to employ a wildlife biologist in 1977. He counted 108 incidents of wildlife hitting aircraft at Sea-Tac in 2008, up from 77 in 2007. The increase is a sign he’s doing his job right, he said. That’s because airlines don’t have to report wildlife strikes — they volunteer the information. Many strikes go unreported. How many strikes Osmek is able to record depends on how hard he works with airlines to gather data.

The “bird strike” issue became water-cooler fodder in January, when US Airways Flight 1549 went down in the Hudson River. Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, Flight 1549’s pilot, became a national hero for setting the Airbus down in the river with no casualties. Windshield- and wing-hitting birds like mourning doves, gulls and pigeons became something of a national scourge, although the FAA’s data shows it’s nothing new. What’s an airport to do? Why, hire a specialist, of course! That’s why the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport in North Bend, Ore., hired Filly — a border collie whose official title is their wildlife management canine. “She’s chased flocks of geese into the water,” said Bob Hood, the airport’s wildlife manager. “She’s really good at her job and she really likes her job.”

Denver International Airport (DIA) plans to spend almost $350,000 next year to minimize the probability of birds colliding with airplanes. DIA operations manager Mike Carlson says the money pays for federal wildlife officers who haze and harass birds to stay away from the airplanes’ paths. The airport last month topped the nation in the number of bird and wildlife collisions with airplanes last year with 318 accidents. Each collision can cost airlines more than $2 million in damages to planes.