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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Population Increases Of Large Birds In North America Pose Challenges For Aviation Safety, Richard A. Dolbeer
Population Increases Of Large Birds In North America Pose Challenges For Aviation Safety, Richard A. Dolbeer
Human–Wildlife Interactions
There is a strong correlation between bird mass and the likelihood of aircraft damage during a bird–aircraft collision. Thus, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established airworthiness standards related to bird mass for engines, airframes, and windshields. Most standards use large (1.8 kg) and medium (1.1 kg) birds as benchmarks (the empennage and certain large turbofan engines use a 3.6-kg bird). There are 20 large (≥1.8 kg) and 16 medium (1.1–1.7 kg) bird species in North America with ≥20 strikes reported for civil aircraft (FAA National Wildlife Strike Database), 1990 to 2018. I analyzed the population changes of these …
European Starlings Fly Before They Fledge, Jeremiah L. Psiropoulos, Lisa A. Selner
European Starlings Fly Before They Fledge, Jeremiah L. Psiropoulos, Lisa A. Selner
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Aircraft bird strikes are increasing globally. Bird strikes constitute a major human health and safety risk and result in millions of dollars in economic impacts. Invasive avian species, such as the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris; starlings), have been implicated in bird strikes in North America. Because this species is highly adaptive and has been successful at establishing in new areas, such as airports, it is essential that managers better understand the potential risks and how to mitigate them. Herein we present a case study regarding a novel observation of unique starling nesting behavior that may pose a risk …
Population Trends Of Resident And Migratory Canada Geese In Relation To Strikes With Civil Aircraft, Richard A. Dolbeer, John L. Seubert, Michael J. Begier
Population Trends Of Resident And Migratory Canada Geese In Relation To Strikes With Civil Aircraft, Richard A. Dolbeer, John L. Seubert, Michael J. Begier
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Canada geese (Branta canadensis) are of particular concern to aviation in the USA because of their large size, flocking behavior, attraction to airports for grazing, and, for the resident population, year-round presence in urban environments. We documented trends in resident and migrant Canada goose populations in North America from 1970 to 2012, and for 1990 to 2012 examined these trends in relation to trends in reported civil aircraft collisions (strikes) with Canada geese. The overall Canada goose population increased 4.5 fold from 1.26 million in 1970 to 5.69 million in 2012. Most of this overall increase was due …
Beware The Boojum: Caveats And Strengths Of Avian Radar, Robert C. Beason, Tim J. Nohara, Peter Weber
Beware The Boojum: Caveats And Strengths Of Avian Radar, Robert C. Beason, Tim J. Nohara, Peter Weber
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Radar provides a useful and powerful tool to wildlife biologists and ornithologists. However, radar also has the potential for errors on a scale not previously possible. In this paper, we focus on the strengths and limitations of avian surveillance radars that use marine radar front-ends integrated with digital radar processors to provide 360° of coverage. Modern digital radar processors automatically extract target information, including such various target attributes as location, speed, heading, intensity, and radar cross-section (size) as functions of time. Such data can be stored indefinitely, providing a rich resource for ornithologists and wildlife managers. Interpreting these attributes in …
Using Radar Cross-Section To Enhance Situational Awareness Tools For Airport Avian Radars, Tim J. Nohara, Robert C. Beason, Peter Weber
Using Radar Cross-Section To Enhance Situational Awareness Tools For Airport Avian Radars, Tim J. Nohara, Robert C. Beason, Peter Weber
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Digital avian radars can track bird movements continuously in the vicinity of airports without interruption. The result is a wealth of bird-track data that can be used in mitigation efforts to reduce bird strikes on and near airfields. To make the sheer volume of bird track data generated by digital avian radars accessible to users, we developed tools to transform these data into analytical and visualization products to improve situational awareness for wildlife and airfield personnel. In addition to the parameters traditionally associated with radar tracking (latitude, longitude, altitude, speed, and heading), we have implemented a procedure to estimate the …
A Decade Of U.S. Air Force Bat Strikes, Suzanne C. Peurach, Carla J. Dove, Laura Stepko
A Decade Of U.S. Air Force Bat Strikes, Suzanne C. Peurach, Carla J. Dove, Laura Stepko
Human–Wildlife Interactions
From 1997 through 2007, 821 bat strikes were reported to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Safety Center by aircraft personnel or ground crew and sent to the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, for identification. Many samples were identified by macroscopic and or microscopic comparisons with bat specimens housed in the museum and augmented during the last 2 years by DNA analysis. Bat remains from USAF strikes during this period were received at the museum from 40 states in the United States and from 20 countries. We confirmed that 46% of the strikes were caused by bats, but we …
Safety Management Systems: How Useful Will The Faa National Wildlife Strike Database Be?, Richard A. Dolbeer, Sandra E. Wright
Safety Management Systems: How Useful Will The Faa National Wildlife Strike Database Be?, Richard A. Dolbeer, Sandra E. Wright
Human–Wildlife Interactions
The National Wildlife Strike Database for Civil Aviation in the United States became operational in 1995 with the initiation of data entry of all strike reports beginning in 1990. The database contained 82,057 reported strikes from 1990 to 2007. About 9,800 of these strike reports noted damage to the aircraft, of which 2,700 indicated the damage was substantial. The database has proven to be a useful source of objective information on the extent and nature of wildlife strikes for personnel at individual airports and for researchers and regulatory agencies at the national level. With the impending requirement for airports in …
Role Of Near-Miss Bird Strikes In Assessing Hazards, Matt W. Klope, Robert C. Beason, Timothy J. Nohara, Michael J. Beiger
Role Of Near-Miss Bird Strikes In Assessing Hazards, Matt W. Klope, Robert C. Beason, Timothy J. Nohara, Michael J. Beiger
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Management of problem wildlife within the airfield environment is a difficult job. Today’s Bird–Animal Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) program managers require as much information as possible to accomplish their tasks. Bird censuses and actual bird-strike events in and around the air operations area are used to make airfield management decisions and to assess the risk of bird hazards to aircraft. Both types of information are sampled rather sparsely. Avian radar is now being used as a new tool to provide continuous sampling of bird activity that significantly supplements visual censuses. The measure of risk used today is commonly expressed as …