WASHINGTON – Airplane collisions with birds have more than doubled at 13 major U.S. airports since 2000, according to Federal Aviation Administration data released for the first time Friday.
Eleven people have died in airplane collisions with birds or deer since 1990, the data show.
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 at least 30 such accidents and Sacramento International Airport in California with at least 28 accidents. Kennedy, the nation's 6th busiest airport, is located amid wetlands that attract birds, and Sacramento International, the nation's 40th busiest, abuts farms whose crops draw birds.
FAA: bird strikes more than double at big airports