Reports of plane-bird crashes rising

Published 10:41 pm Tuesday, January 12, 2010

WASHINGTON — Reports of airplanes hitting birds and other wildlife surged last year, including serious accidents such as birds crashing through cockpits and crippling engines in flight, according to an Associated Press analysis of new government data.

“Birds and planes are fighting for airspace, and it’s getting increasingly crowded,” said Richard Dolbeer, an expert on bird-plane collisions who is advising the Federal Aviation Administration and the Agriculture Department.

The government’s tally for all bird strikes last year could reach or even exceed 10,000 for the first time — which would represent about 27 strikes every day. The previous high was 7,507 strikes in 2007.

There were at least 57 cases in the first seven months of 2009 that caused serious damage and three in which planes and a corporate helicopter were destroyed by birds. At least eight people died, and six more were hurt.

The destroyed planes include the Airbus A320 that, with 155 passengers and crew, went into the Hudson River in New York a year ago this week after hitting a flock of Canada geese. No lives were lost in that dramatic river landing.

The increase in bird-strike reports is because airports and airlines have become more diligent about reporting, said Mike Beiger, national coordinator for the airport wildlife hazards program at the Agriculture Department. Experts also blame increasing populations of large birds such as Canada geese that can knock out engines on passenger jets.

Reports of bird strikes through July have doubled in at least 17 states since 2005, including many along the Mississippi River and central migratory flyways running across the central U.S. The 17 states are: Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin.

In the first seven months of 2009 there were 4,671 wildlife strikes reported in the government’s data, an increase of 22 percent over the same period in 2008. More serious accidents increased over the same period by 36 percent. Officials are still manually adding paper reports for the second half of the year, and they said online reports indicate an even larger increase over that period.

The database includes collisions with all wildlife — deer and coyotes on runways, for example — but historically 98 percent of reported incidents involve birds.

The FAA has mostly focused on keeping birds away from airports, where most strikes take place. But grebes and snow geese are migratory birds and were flying miles away from airports when these collisions took place.

Bird strikes reported in Washington

Total bird strikes reported by Washington airports from 1990 through July 2009, according to an Associated Press analysis:

Arlington Municipal: 4

Paine Field (Everett): 80

Anacortes: 1

Auburn Municipal: 2

Bellingham International: 31

Boeing Field / King County International (Seattle): 113

Bowerman Field (Hoquiam): 3

Bemerton National: 1

Chehalis Centralia: 3

Deer Park Municipal: 1

Diamond Point Airstrip: 1

Friday Harbor: 4

Grant County: 237

Jefferson County International: 1

Kelso-Longview: 2

Lopez Island: 1

McChord Air Force Base (Tacoma): 1

Olympia: 6

Omak: 1

Orcas Island: 3

Pangborn Memorial (Wenatchee): 21

Pearson Field (Vancouver): 4

Pierce County-Thun Field (Puyallup): 1

Pullman (Wash.)-Moscow (Idaho) Regional: 9

Renton Municipal: 21

Richland: 1

Roche Harbor SPB: 1

Seattle-Tacoma International: 638

Skagit Regional: 2

Spokane International: 108

Tacoma Narrows: 12

Tri-Cities: 45

Waldronaire (San Juan County): 1

Walla Walla Regional: 4

William Fairchild International (Port Angeles): 12

Yakima Air Terminal: 27

An additional 19 bird strikes were recorded at “unknown” locations, according to the AP report.