Airport Safety is Not for the Birds

by Deborah Field, St George and Sutherland Shire Leader - Sydney,NSW,Australia

April 15, 2008

STATISTICALLY, flying is the safest form of transport.

Unless you are a bird at Sydney Airport.

Data from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau reveals that at least 13 birds have been struck by planes at the airport this year.

It might not seem serious, but any incident including "bird strikes" involving Australian registered aircraft, or foreign aircraft in Australian air space, must be reported to the bureau.

In some cases, there were even reports of planes being damaged because of "bird strikes".

Planes hitting birds rank highly in the log of incidents at Sydney Airport, presumably because of its high traffic volume and proximity to Botany Bay and surrounding beaches.

The types of birds struck this year have included a hawk, nankeen kestrel and pigeon.

In most cases, it is the birds that come off second-best. However, the crew of one passenger jet did report to the bureau that "after landing, the thrust reverser on the left engine would not slow correctly because of damage caused by a bird strike".

Other incidents logged with the bureau's aviation safety database included:

January 8: An Airbus aircraft struck a hawk, which then struck the right-side of the fuselage.

January 27: Engineers reported that a Boeing aircraft struck a bird "that was ingested into the right engine fan cold-stream only".

February 9: A fruit bat is struck by a Boeing plane near runway 16R.

February 19: During take-off, a Boeing plane hits a nankeen kestrel.

In Bird vs. Plane, Bird Can Sometimes 'Win'

by Brittany McHenry, Medill Reports, Chicago

April 10, 2008

As the FAA continues to suspend roughly a thousand American Airlines flights for maintenance, another cadre of flyers is being grounded from the air. Birds, too, making their annual spring migration from the south, pose a safety issue for travelers.

This time of year theres a lot of rain, said Mike Morlan, airport operations supervisor for the Chicago Department of Aviation. All the birds are picking at the sod and getting worms all over the air field, so were constantly scaring them off.

Last March a bird flew into a United Airlines jet twin engine as it was departing from OHare International Airport for Sao Paolo, Brazil. One of the engines caught fire, and inspectors found bird remains in the other engine. According to Chicago-based American Airlines pilot Mark Batway, this is a frequent problem.

In the business theyre called bird strikes, Batway said. I lost an engine due to a bird strike, and theres always concern with airports near waterways.

The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that U.S. aviation spends $500 million on wildlife safety and estimates about 200 people have died since 1988 when birds crashed into planes and fouled up the works.

This time of year, the Department of Aviation hires additional staff from the U.S. Department of Agricultures Wildlife Service to prevent bird strikes at OHare and Midway International Airport.

They use different techniques to harass the birds, said Shawn Cirton, representative from the U.S. Fish and Wildlifes Barrington office. These are techniques used not only at airports but even on private property. Airport officials most frequently use pyrotechnics either in the form of smoke canisters or projectile fireworks to scare birds away. When this technique fails to work other measures are taken.

We also shoot short-range pellet rifles, Jessie Groh, airport operations officer for the airport at Fort Lauderdale, Fl., said. The pellet guns require permits and are used at airports across the country. Groh added that the shape of the runway is also a problem. He explained that their pyramid shape, which allows water to drain off the surface, forms puddles that attract birds. When a plane takes off, the birds get spooked and flies into the path of the plane.

I try to shoot them in the tail, so it just shoots a few feathers, and they take off, Groh said. I dont want to kill them. Im an animal lover too. He noted that airports try to keep a low profile when using air rifles to avoid alarming passengersespecially in these tense times of aviation security. Still, he said measures are necessary to prevent the damage caused from bird incidents.

Not all birds are created equal, Batway said. A duck, goose, any one of the larger birds are far more of a concern than a sparrow. However, they can all be a threat.

University Officials Say Plane Crashed After Hitting Geese

by Blake Nicholson, The Associated Press

April 10, 2008

BISMARCK, N.D. A University of North Dakota airplane that crashed in central Minnesota last fall, killing a student and flight instructor, likely went down after colliding with geese, school officials say.

UND aerospace dean Bruce Smith and Dana Siewert, the Grand Forks school's director of aviation safety, are basing their conclusion on an examination of flight data and the twin-engine Piper Seminole itself.

"In going through all of the things that possibly could happen and eliminating them one by one, and given the evidence that was left on the airplane, this was the only conclusion," Smith said Wednesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating. Tim Sorensen, the NTSB lead investigator in the Seminole crash, confirmed Wednesday that no evidence of mechanical failure has been found but that Canada goose DNA was discovered on the plane's left wing.

Student Adam Ostapenko, 20, of Duluth, Minn., and instructor Annette Klosterman, 22, of Seattle, died when the plane crashed in a swampy area in central Minnesota on Oct. 23, 2007. They were on a routine training flight from St. Paul, Minn., to Grand Forks when the plane went down near Browerville, Minn.

Flight data indicated the plane was flying normally, then went out of control and hit the ground in less than half a minute, UND officials said.

"We know that something catastrophic happened within just a matter of seconds," Siewert said. Combined with the goose DNA, he said, "that leads us to believe that it was a bird strike."

UND is working with the NTSB on the investigation. The NTSB is not expected to release an official probable cause until later this year at the earliest.

NTSB officials were surprised that UND officials had publicly released information, though Sorensen said it would not affect the investigation.

Siewert said UND released the information so other UND students are more aware of the dangers of birds.

"We want to take a look and make sure we're providing pilots additional educational information and strategies to minimize the potential for future bird strikes," he said.

Canada geese are one of the most hazardous species of bird for aircraft because of their large size and flocking behavior, the Federal Aviation Administration says.

FAA figures show 64,734 bird strikes to civil aircraft in the United States from 1990 to 2005 - about one strike for every 10,000 flights.

Strike Eagles vs. Birds

by Kenneth Fine, Goldsboro News Argus, Goldsboro, NC

April 7, 2008

Chris Willis gets the call.

An F-15E has just been hit during a routine sortie.

You might think the 4th Fighter Wing commander would be the first to know. And had it been enemy fire that struck that jet, he likely would have been. But even though the commander is the chief of all the Strike Eagles housed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Willis is the expert on the birds that fly alongside them.

He is the one charged with learning more about their habits, to find ways to limit their interaction with the "birds" without a pulse -- the ones valued at tens of millions of dollars each.

An average 50 to 60 bird strikes are reported by 4th FW pilots each year. And while most of them leave little more than a mess to clean up, they can be "disastrous." Willis has seen the kind of damage a bird can inflict on a fighter and its crew. He can recall an incident in Virginia in which a large bird downed a military aircraft. The pilot was killed, he said.

So the USDA biologist takes his job seriously, hoping research will reveal ways to save lives. "We want to know where we are hitting them and at what altitude we are hitting them so that, in hindsight, if we have to knock off an area completely or just not fly there at certain times, we can do that," Willis said. "Why put a pilot's life in danger when you don't have to?"

In combat situations, insurgents, enemy aircraft and suspected terrorists might top a fighter pilot's list of enemies. But around their home station and in training areas, the turkey vulture, blackbird and mallard duck are among the ones keeping them looking. And then there are the small perching birds -- killdeer that sit on the Seymour Johnson tarmac, eastern meadowlark and cedar waxwings. Willis and his team represent the first line of defense against them.

It starts, he said, with habitat modification. "We know, for example, that the small perching birds, say in the spring and fall, they come on the field if the grass is high and has seeds in it. That attracts them," he said. "So we keep the grass between seven and 14 inches." In May 2005, before that practice was implemented, 10 strikes were reported near the flight line by 4th Fighter Wing pilots. Last May? Zero.

And in the winter months, ducks and gulls cause problems in the air space above Goldsboro's waste water treatment facility. "There will be anywhere between 2,000 to 3,000 ducks and gulls over there from about November to April," Willis said. So this year, his staff has partnered with the city and Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a study there. Fishing line is being strung across the five ponds housed on the 177-acre lot.

Maybe that would deter the birds from perching there, Willis said. And although only one of the ponds is close to finished, the effect of the wire is already being realized.

"Of course, it's just research, but we know that on the pond that is closest to the base, there were 300 ducks there (last Monday)," Willis said. "On the pond next to it, the one that is 90 percent complete, there were three." But even the experts understand that limiting birds in the area only reduces the risk for pilots. After all, keeping all wildlife out the F-15E flight path would be impossible, Willis said.

So when strikes do happen, the specialists and air crews alike, document them. "Any time a pilot knows there is a bird strike, they call in-flight emergency and land the plane -- whether they know there is damage or not," Willis said. "We try to meet the air crew right at the plane. What I am looking for is a little bit of 'snarge' -- blood and guts. But if I can find a feather, that really helps out." Any remains picked off the jet go into a bag and are sent to the Smithsonian for identification.

About a week later, Willis can tell the pilot what he or she hit. If it was, say, a turkey vulture, that particular air crew might proceed with caution the next time they are in the air space where the hit occurred. Or they might try to single out roosts in the area and avoid the location altogether.

Either way, Willis said, the research is hailing results. And results are critical when you are talking about the safety of American troops, he said. So if you notice trash piled up within a five mile radius of the base gates, or see birds perching in high grass, it might be worth making a call to city or base officials. You might just save a life, Willis said.

"Bird strikes are a huge problem, and not only on the military side but on the civilian side, too," he said. "Every year, the number of strikes, it's up in the thousands. Way up in the thousands."

Mozambique: Air Corridor May Not Fly Again

Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo), allafrica.com

April 3, 2008

The private Mozambican airline Air Corridor may never fly again because both of its Boeing 737s are grounded in South Africa with serious safety problems, according to a report in the latest issue of the weekly Maputo paper "Magazine Independente" (MI).

Air Corridor last flew in January. At that time one of its Boeings was already undergoing repair in Johannesburg. The second then suffered a bird strike at the airport in the northern city of Nampula. A large bird was sucked into one of the engines, and so this plane too had to be sent to South Africa.

Air Corridor blamed the national airport company, ADM, for the bird strike, but ADM retorted that it had done all in its power to keep birds away from the runway.

"Magazine Independente" says it has acquired a copy of a report dated 25 January, sent by Aeronexus, the South African company trying to repair the two Boeings, to the Mozambican Civil Aviation Institute (IACM), which indicates that the problems with the aircraft go far beyond a simple bird strike.

Aeronexus noted that Air Corridor has no record of the routine repairs and inspections of its aircraft - and this fact alone would be enough for the civil aviation authorization authorities to withdraw the company's licence to fly.

The lack of certified maintenance is a serious matter indeed, and calls into question the safety of the aircraft. Contacted by the paper, a source in the IACM said the Institute would soon make an announcement on the Aeronexus warning, because "the matter is serious and involves people's safety".

Air Corridor is the flagship company of the Gulamo Group, a business based in Nampula. It began operating domestic routes, in competition with the state-owned Mozambique Airlines (LAM) four years ago, offering much lower fares than LAM.

But there were always those who had suspicions about Air Corridor - so much so that in December 2004 the US Embassy issued a note forbidding any of its staff from traveling on Air Corridor planes. The company protested vigorously, and in February 2007 the embassy lifted its ban. But it is now beginning to look as if the embassy's fears were well-grounded.

Back in January, Air Corridor promised that it would resume flights some time in February. That has not happened, and MI's attempts to speak to the company's managers were fruitless. The paper was told that the key management figures, both in Nampula and in Maputo, were out of the country.

Bird Strike Linked to Plane Tragedy

Tony Wilson, Goldcoast.com.au

March 11, 2008

A BIRD strike on some part of Garry Sweetnam's Zenith Zodiac aircraft is being suggested as a possible cause of the crash which claimed two lives.

While the official investigation into the crash is just beginning, Australian Wings Academy chief executive officer Phil Sweeney said he had seen the damage a bird could inflict on an aircraft.

"We'll probably never know but I personally suspect it may have been a bird strike," he said.

"We had a bird strike on a Cessna on its final coming into the airfield about a year or 15 months ago.

"We've got Cessna 172s with a high wing on them and it hit about 3ft or 4ft out from the fuselage on the wing and it left a huge dint.

"There were three instructors on board and they were actually doing instructor training and it scared them.

"They landed but what really worried them was that if that hit the cockpit window, it would have ended up in the cockpit and they could have been completely knocked out or certainly so disoriented they wouldn't have been able to land the plane.

"If Garry was getting along at 110 knots or 200km/h and a dirty great big pelican or sea eagle hit them ... if it hit the wing then it could have torn the wing straight off at the speed they were going.

"Or it might have hit the canopy. You just don't know. It's total speculation.

"Until they find the remains of the plane and bring it up, you're just not going to know."

Mr Sweeney said the one thing he was sure about was that whatever happened in the air that fateful Friday, it would not have been pilot or plane error.

"Garry was just too safe," said Mr Sweeney.

Garry Sweetnam, 48 and Andrew Mitchell, 33, were on a short 20-minute flight in the home-made kit plane to check it out before an air show, when it plummeted into the ocean at Narrow Neck just after 4pm on Friday.

Another Gold Coast pilot who did not want to be named also said a bird strike was the most likely scenario.

"Given Garry's safety record, it's what a lot of pilots have been talking about," said the pilot.

"It makes the most sense, but obviously we will have to wait until the wreckage is recovered."

That may not be until late in the week.

Water Police acting Senior Sergeant Mark Kelly said a Water Police boat searched the area yesterday morning but with a 4m swell running it was impossible to conduct a proper search.

"It's too rough for divers. We will have a Water Police boat out again this morning," he said.

"But the forecast is worse than yesterday's, so we don't think we will be able to put divers and the sonar back in the water until later in the week."

Twelve SES volunteers searched the beach and foreshore yesterday and found a small piece of cockpit perspex, with a hole the size of a 20 cent piece in it, near the Southport Surf Lifesaving Club.

Air Force Opposes David Earls Permit to Operate Water Treatment Plant

By Bill Sontag, Del Rio Live

March 7, 2008

Air Force officials commented, June 26, 2007, on an application tendered by San Antonio developer David Earl on behalf of Val Verde Development Company to build a wastewater treatment plant, and for Earl the news was not good.

Air Force positions on the proposed plant came to light as part of a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) public hearing, Thursday (March 6). Attendees heard Earls entreaty to allow construction of a treatment plant or plants capable of yielding up to 990,000 gallons of treated sewage daily at his proposed Monarch Crossing development adjacent to Laughlin Air Force Base. (See http://www.swtexaslive.com/node/6322) In prepared remarks, Del Rio Mayor Efrain Valdez voiced opposition to the permit, and referred to Air Force opposition to the permit, as well.

Friday (March 7), LIVE! obtained copies of the Air Force petition to have the permit rejected and to initiate a Motion to Overturn and a Contested Case Hearing against the proposal. In a June 26, 2007 letter, signed by Col. Dan Laro Clark, vice wing commander of the 47th Flying Training Wing at Laughlin Air Force Base, the Office of the Chief Clerk, TCEQ, Austin, was informed:

Bird strikes constitute one of the greatest dangers to low altitude flying, landing, and departure operations. We are concerned the potential release of approximately 990,000 gallons of water daily into the usually dry Zorro Creek will increase the wildlife and bird populations within the area, resulting in an increased flight safety hazard for our aircraft. We have a very active Bird Air Strike Hazard (BASH) program on Laughlin to help mitigate the flight safety hazards. Would the Val Verde Development Company or its affiliates implement a similar BASH program? If so, what measures would they take to mitigate the bird strike hazard?

Clark also pointed out to TCEQ that the 47th Flying Training Wing makes Laughlin a very busy airport, further increasing the risk of bird strikes. With its fleet of 258 aircraft, Laughlin handles 62,000 sorties (takeoffs and landings) annually, with more than 96,000 hours of time in the air. Clark said that the base is only a mile from the proposed effluent discharge zone where attraction of birds may be constitute a threat to aircraft, pilots and student pilots.

Thursday night, Valdez decried the push to get the wastewater treatment plant permit issued before the city and the Air Force complete a long-awaited, now vigorous Joint Land Use Study examining the complexities of relationships between development around Laughlin and the mission of the base.

Valdez echoed the final concern expressed by Clark in his June 2007 letter: In addition, the City of Del Rio is currently conducting a Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) to identify compatible land use/zoning for property around Laughlin AFB. The JLUS is in its infancy and will not be complete until May 2008. Studying this potential development in conjunction with the JLUS will help promote harmonious development."

Also on June 26, 2007, TCEQ was notified of the Air Forces intent to follow Clarks request for a Motion to Reconsider the Grant of a Draft Permit and a Request for a Contested Case Hearing. Robert Gill, Air Force regional environmental coordinator, Region VI, Dallas, forwarded maps and diagrams of flying patterns of the 47th Flying Training Wing.

Gill reiterated Clarks description of the intense flying regimen at Laughlin, graduating 368 Air Force and allied service pilots annually. On an average day, the Base conducts approximately 325 low level sorties at altitudes ranging from approximately 600-1,500 feet, wrote Gill.

Gill requested hearings before an Administrative Law Judge, standard procedure in TCEQ Contested Case Hearings.

Earl did not return calls from LIVE! Friday (March 7) regarding this and other issues pertaining to his application to TCEQ for the wastewater treatment plant.

Citation 500 Down After Takeoff From PWA [Wiley Post Airport (OK)]

ANN Realtime

March 4, 2008

Witness Says Plane Flew Through Bird Flock

Authorities now report as many as five persons may have died in the Tuesday afternoon crash of a Cessna Citation 500 shortly after takeoff from Wiley Post Airport in Oklahoma City, OK... but they won't know for sure until daybreak.

"We can't begin the body recovery until tomorrow due to darkness and the condition of the scene," said Kevin Rowland, chief investigator for the state medical examiner's office, Tuesday night.

Officials haven't identified any of the victims believed onboard the aircraft. However, Valrie Pool -- wife of Frank Pool Jr, executive vice president of United Engines in Oklahoma City -- said her husband and two other executives, including company president Garth Bates, were onboard the flight.

"They were great business partners and great friends," she said. "They were really well-liked by the people at United Engines."

The aircraft was operated by a two-man flight crew, according to David C. Johnston Jr., attorney for aircraft management company Interstate Helicopters. "Interstate was merely a facilitator to provide an airplane and a crew to the customer, and I'm not at liberty to release the customer's name at this point," Johnston added. Original Report

1809 EST: Police and fire officials are on scene following the crash of a Cessna Citation 500 in Oklahoma City, OK, near Wiley Post Airport (PWA).

The aircraft went down shortly after takeoff from PWA, FAA spokesman Roland Herwig told NewsOK.com, and crashed about five miles southwest of the field.

"We are told, and this is preliminary, that there is at least one fatality," Herwig said. "We don't know how many were on board at this point."

Herwig added the aircraft -- tail number N113SH -- is registered to Southwest Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Clinic P.C. of Oklahoma City, and was on an IFR flight plan to Mankato, MN. The plane's owner, Dr. Anthony Cruse, was not onboard, according to a clinic official.

Witness Greg Horton told KWTV-9 that from his vantage point, fishing on a lake near the airport, it looked like the plane (file photo of type, right) may have flown through a flock of birds.

[http://www.aero-news.net/#] "A bird, after it sucked through, we heard it, a dead bird was floating and it landed right in the lake," he said. "He was trying to recover, and just took a nosedive right over here. I saw the fireball and everything."

Another witness, Lindsey Allison told police the aircraft flew directly overhead as she drove west on NW 10 to Bethany. She thought it was "a stunt plane" due to its maneuvering.

"It was flipping and spinning and going almost upside down. It was all happening right in front of me. Then it seemed to lose all control; it went straight down and crashed," said Allison. "I couldn't believe that it was going to crash."

Air India Plane Hits 'Nilgai' on Kanpur Runway

The Times of India

March 2, 2008

KANPUR: In yet another incident highlighting the chaotic and dangerous conditions prevailing on runways in the country, a 48- seater Air India regional flight hit a nilgai while landing at the Chakeri airport in Kanpur on Thursday.

The 47 passengers on board and four crew members however escaped unhurt. The Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad flight, CD 7801, had just landed at Kanpur when the incident occurred.

The pilot pulled the emergency brake after he noticed the nilgai on the runway, but the animal took a hit and died on the spot. Air India officials said damages to the nose of the plane forced cancellation of its onward flight to Allahabad.

"A team from Delhi was immediately sent to Kanpur to determine the extent of damage. However, since the aircraft went to the hanger on its own power after the accident, we don't think the damage was too severe," said an Air India spokesperson.

"The plane was landing at 12.33pm when it hit the nilgai," said Air India's area marketing manager Uma Shanker. "All the passengers are safe," he announced.

The airline sent the passengers to Allahabad by taxi, the official said. Allahabad high court judge Justice V N Trivedi and his wife were among the passengers. "There was panic among the passengers," said J S Yadav, a businessman from Allahabad, who was returning from Delhi.

Chakeri is an air force base and has been plagued by blue bulls for some years now. A few years ago, a plane carrying the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav was stranded at the airport for nearly an hour after a herd of nilgais blocked the runway.

According to sources, there are no boundary walls around the airfield to prevent the entry of animals on the runway, as yet. Several airports suffer from the problem of stray animals on runways and bird hits, possibly because many are located at some distance from the main city.

Delhi, till some time back, used to witness frequent scenes of animals straying on to the runway. Recently, the runway was closed for about half an hour after a dead jackal was discovered there. Mumbai still has stray dogs running around the airside.

"It is essential for authorities to ensure that aircraft get a clear way for landing and take-off. The incident at Kanpur could have been extremely dangerous and care should be taken to not allow such instances to happen again," said an official of Air India. (c) 2008 The Times of India. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Bird knocks out engine on Kulula flight

The Citizen, Johannesburg, South Africa

January 30, 2008

DURBAN – A Kulula.com passenger aircraft was forced to turn back after a bird flew into an engine during a Durban to Cape Town flight on Wednesday. Airline spokeswoman Glenda Zvenyika confirmed that a ‘bird strike' occurred on flight MN702, 15 minutes after taking off from Durban.

The captain had to shut down the engine.

The Boeing 737 plane turned back and emergency services were put on standby on the ground.

The plane, carrying a crew of six and 130 passengers, landed safely after circling Durban airport to burn off excess fuel.

Zvenyika said a standby plane was being sent from Johannesburg to pick up passengers.

The KwaZulu-Natal provincial Emergency Medical Rescue Services reported that none of the crew or passengers were injured during the incident.

Zvenyika said she was still awaiting further information.

It was not immediately clear at what height the plane was flying when it struck the bird.

Durban International Airport spokesman Colin Naidoo said the plane landed at about 12:15pm and passengers were being “rerouted” to reach their final destination.