Bird Strikes on the Increase
 

The number of bird strike incidents at Britain's airports has nearly doubled with three ''significant hits'' a week, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.

Bird strikes damage three aircraft a week - Telegraph

Confirming my concerns about building an airport in the Thames/Medway estuary, the breeding ground of millions of sea birds.

Its not just aircraft whilst driving to work last year pigeon flew into my windscreen at 55mph . Big bang,laminated screen cracked blood/feathers ,both wipers removed. Lost my £85 excess getting it fixed . Shuttleworths Collection had a nice hole in the leading edge of their Hurricane recently.

I shall gladly have them removed in order to see the project proceed and the Medway towns benefit from the industry. :ok: ;)

Damned birds invading our domain!

I don't know how widely known it is, but after Sully's ditching New York City rounded up as many Canada Geese as they could, put them in a warehouse and gassed them. A despicable attitude, in my opinion. I understand EGLL has a number of strategies to deal with the problem, from the Landrovers equipped with PA to play bird alarm-calls to scare flocks away, to leaving the grass at such a length that birds are discouraged from landing there because they can't see approaching predators. Do airports share their ideas on this sort of thing, I wonder?

You are joking yes?

Quote
The number of bird strike incidents at Britain's airports has nearly doubled with three ''significant hits'' a week, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.

I would have thought it would be more, when you compare a Comet to an A380, the size of the engine air intakes is 10-20 time bigger... You should be hovering up 10 times more. (and the number of flights/day has increased significantly.)

Hope those Canada Geese tasted good....

I wish I was. There are several reports online about it, this is one example:
Volunteers flock to save NYC's Canada geese Metro.us

Do airports share their ideas on this sort of thing, I wonder?
 

The regulators do...

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP772.pdf

http://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_...l_complete.pdf

...and it's not just birds...

http://www.skybrary.aero/bookshelf/books/1006.pdf :ok:

I think the thread title should reflect the reality that the reporting of bird strike incidents has nearly doubled.

Mother nature doesn't change her knickers as often as the original title implies.

Some of the reportings could indeed be due to pilots and ground crews dilligence in reporting criteria, whilst the more significant events (severe damage or multiple engine, aircraft surface strikes) show less of an increase.

Also the speculation of more hoovering of birds into larger engines doesn't jibe with engine inlet area. The birds have a tendancy to see and avoid large moving shadows. The increase is more linear than area increases (squares).

The increase could of course be something to do with the CAA making the reporting of birdstrikes mandatory.

It could also be something to do with an increase in aeroplane traffic.

Let's not forget shark bites.

More planes hit more birds, duh!

Climate change or Bush's fault. Take your pick. :ugh:

SEE ME AND AVOID.
 

Some airlines discourage the use of all forward-facing lights as the inconvenience and cost of filament replacement has been noticed by the beancounters, who don't risk their a*ses every day............

Some say don't use the nosewheel steering light as it gets hammered by the C/L lights on the runway when/if we can maintain the C/L and therefore requires more frequent replacement.......................

Myth has it that the weather radar repels our feathered friends, it doesn't as anyone who's observed the activities of birds near airfield radar installations can testify.....................

I have statistical evidence that the brighter the light(s), the lower the strike rate, this on a 'frame with taxi and landing lights behind perspex covers in the leading edges roughly mid wingspan...............

As everyday operating practice I use every forward-facing light, vis conditions permitting, despite the mutterings that "it's not SOP!"..............

Of course our backroom managers are more concerned with the cost and inconvenience of filament replacement than they are with the possibility of a hull loss, indicating the disconnect between modern airline leadership and the real world of everyday operations, as clearly enunciated in other fora in this site. :ugh:

big birds
 

Back in the 70`s I was discussing the technical merits of the F28 with an Engineer from Indian Airlines. He kept asking me about something that sounded like "bardits"
I asked him to clarify what he meant, to which he said "How much do you think a fully grown vulture weighs after a good meal?" He then went on to tell me they had to rebuild an F27 after a vulture had been mashed up by the prop and bits had got into the air on system. Oh the delicate aroma of rotting vulture flowing through the cabin!

Engine manufacturers do bird strike safety tests by shooting a chicken at the engine to check damage. GE did this when testing an engine. The result was a big hole through the engine. They took a chicken out of the freezer and forgot to defrost it before they shot it at the engine.

In my youth having a falcon on standby at our base meant no birds hanging around. You need to let the falcon loose ocasionally to take one out. It keeps their interest up.

Aahh, I thought the OP meant they were refusing to get airborne :O

Excellent! Barstewards crap everywhere when they arrive in my little town.