Wed, Apr 08, 2009
Cites Data From FAA Database Showing 62 Percent Increase
Aero-News reported last months on findings by the
Associated Press,
that the FAA applied on March 24 for permission to lock
down its database of bird strike reports. The agency
expressed the concern release of the data would cast a negative
light on the images of certain airports, and the airline industry
in general.
Now, USA Today has apparently found a copy that got out before
the January 15 ditching of US Airways Flight 1549 made the issue a
hot topic. The paper reports FAA data shows collisions between
airliners and large birds have risen dramatically since the agency
started keeping track in 1990.
Strikes by birds large enough to cripple an airliner averaged
323 per year through the 1990s. Between 2000 and 2007, the average
was 524. That's a 62 percent increase.
"In most cases it's going to be these large birds that are going
to cause a catastrophe or a significant strike event," said Richard
Dolbeer, the retired Department of Agriculture wildlife biologist
who created the FAA strike database.
Alas, any data is of limited use in reaching statistically valid
conclusions, because -- despite pressure from the National
Transportation Safety Board -- reporting strikes is not mandatory.
The FAA estimates only 20 percent of strikes are reported.
Furthermore, only a relatively small percentage of even reported
strikes are severe. "Significant strikes are still a very small
part of the total bird strike numbers," said FAA spokeswoman Laura
Brown.
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