Interspecific variation in wildlife hazards to aircraft: Implications for airport wildlife management

Authors

Travis L. DeVault, USDA, APHIS, Wildlife ServicesFollow
Jerrold L. Belant, USDA, APHIS, Wildlife Services
Bradley F. Blackwelll, USDA/APHIS/WS National Widldlife Research CenterFollow
Thomas W. Seamans, USDA, APHIS, Wildlife ServicesFollow

Date of this Version

9-2011

Document Type

Article

Citation

Presented at 2011 Bird Strike North America Conference, September 12-15, 2011, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

Comments

Copyright 2011 DeVault, Belant, Blackwell & Seamans

Abstract

Background

• 70% of all wildlife strikes with aircraft occur atft, where management at the airport can be effective.
• At least 415 bird and 35 terrestrial mammal species were struck by aircraft from 1990-2009.
• Overall, 14% of all strikes with birds and 61% of all strikes with mammals caused some damage.

1. But, the severity and probability of damage is species-specific.

• To better prioritize management (e.g., habitat management, land-use planning, non-lethal dispersal), an improved understanding of which species are most hazardous is needed.

Research questions

• Which species are most hazardous?

1. That is, which species are most likely to cause some type of damage to the aircraft when struck?

• How do body mass, body density, and flocking behavior contribute to hazard level?

Building on previous research

• Dolbeer, R.A., S.E. Wright, and E.C. Cleary. 2000. Ranking the hazard level of wildlife species to aviation. Wildlife Society Bulletin 28:372-378.

1. ~18,000 records in the database
2. 21 wildlife species/groups considered

• Dolbeer, R.A., and S.E. Wright. 2009. Safety management systems: How useful will the FAA National Wildlife Strike Database be? Human-Wildlife Conflicts 3:167-178.

1. Did not use a composite hazard score

• Zakrajsek, E.J., and J.A. Bissonette. 2005. Ranking the risk of wildlife species hazardous to military aircraft. Wildlife Society Bulletin 33:258-264.

1. Used the number of damaging strikes and cost as criteria

Methods

• Used FAA National Wildlife Strike Database records: 1990-2009

1. 99,411 total strikes

• Summarized strikes for 77 species or groups with ≥20 records
• Only used strikes ≤500 ft AGL (in the airport environment)

1. Reduced sample size to 23,503 reports

• Variables used in ranking

1. % of strikes with damage
2. % of strikes with substantial damage
3. % of strikes with effect on flight (EOF)

• Species were ranked and a relative hazard score was calculated
• For birds, we assessed effects of body mass, body density, and group size on relative hazard scores