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fLIGHT VIS
“Flight Vis” shares opinions on safety issues from
professionals operating on aviation’s front lines.
Wildlife Awareness
By GARy CooKE
therefore are more apt than airports in
urban areas to harbor birds or wildlife.
Birds and business people usually have
the same flight schedules. It is known that
most bird strikes occur during sunrise and
sunset, coinciding with the
departure and arrival times of
many business aviation flights.
So it makes sense that business aviators, more than most,
need to pay attention to the
bird/wildlife hazards present
and attempt to manage the risk.
One of the biggest threats
faced at rural airports is deer.
Since these airports are nonregulated, their fencing can
be limited, and they most
likely have a bounty of mowed
grasslands near the runway.
Airports, by nature, have large open,
These factors, combined with
deer populations’ explosion
undisturbed lands that present prime
in North America, have the
potential to create very hazattractants for wildlife. Some species
ardous situations.
This was played out in
present are not inherently dangerous
Greenwood, South Carolina, in
to aircraft, but the predators that feed late 2012 when a U.S. government–owned Cessna struck
a deer during the landing rollon them can be.
out. The strike ruptured the
fuel tank and a fire ensued, engulfing and
likelihood of a wildlife strike and reducing
eventually destroying the aircraft. While
the consequences of strikes that occur.1
the deer succumbed to blunt force trauma
Although the risk is present away from airports, a majority of bird/wildlife strikes occur injuries the pilots, thankfully, egressed
safely and were unharmed.
on or very near to airports. An Australian
We need to do a better job of making
study found that 96 percent of bird strikes
our airports safer.
with a known phase of flight occurred while
Airports, by nature, have large open,
the aircraft was on the runway, on approach
undisturbed lands that present prime
to land, or just after takeoff.2 So it makes
attractants for wildlife. Some species pressense to manage the risk where the highest
ent are not inherently dangerous to airprobabilities of hazards reside.
craft, but the predators that feed on them
By its nature, business aviation is
can be. While I wholeheartedly support
exposed to a higher bird/wildlife risk than
conservation efforts, an airport should not
other forms of aviation. This is because
be managed as a wildlife preserve.
it frequently involves operating high perRegulators need to enforce one level of
formance aircraft at airports that are not
safety for all airports. In the United States,
regulated by FAR Part 139, and therefore
the FAA needs to refine FAR Part 139
do not have a robust bird/wildlife manrequirements to include all airports that
agement program. These non-regulated
may accommodate jet aircraft. Regulating
airports also tend to be located rurally and
Wildlife strikes represent an ongoing challenge to the aviation industry. Birds and
other animals are hazards to aviation that
will always be present and so need to be
managed, both in terms of reducing the
6
these airports would require an active
Wildlife Hazard Management Program
(WHMP) to help reduce the wildlife hazard
to operators.
Airports also need to do a better job of
evaluating and communicating their wildlife risks to pilots operating at their airports. Standard Airport/Facility Directory
(A/FD) remarks of “Birds in vicinity of
airport” and the ATIS statement, “Use caution, birds in vicinity of airport,” provide little or no useful information to flight crews
operating at that airport. Pilots become
numb to these warnings, a sort of “boy
crying wolf,” so when an actual elevated
wildlife risk exists, the message may be
diluted in pilots’ perceptions.
Pilots need to report all bird/wildlife
strikes that occur. The ICAO insists an effective bird/wildlife control program depends
on accurate and reliable reporting. Reporting
must involve pilots and aircraft operators
primarily, plus airport ground operations
staff, ATC, and other aviation stakeholders.3
Pilots need to work with ATC and airport
operators to help communicate what bird/
wildlife hazards are observed at an airport.
Reporting observations, near-strikes, and
actual strikes helps this effort.
Business aviation is on the rebound and
seems to be growing again. Unfortunately,
the wildlife population is growing too, creating an increasing hazard to aviation. These
bird/wildlife hazards need to be managed
just like other hazards to aviation have
been mitigated in the past.
Gary Cooke is a CE-750 Captain and
Safety Officer for the CVS/Caremark
flight department, a member of the
NBAA safety committee, and the chair
of the NBAA bird strike working group.
1 Australian aviation wildlife strike statistics,
Aviation Research Report AR-2012-031, 4
June, 2012
2 IBID
3 ICAO Doc 9137-AN/901 Airport Services
Manual part 3, Fourth edition-2011
Editor’s note: See page 8: Bird Strike Safety
Spotlight and Slide Show.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Premium On Safety - Issue 10, 2013
Premium On Safety - Issue 10, 2013
Contents
Best Practices: The Accident Number
Accident Prevention: Putting It All on the Line
ASI Message: Push the Buttons—Capiche?
Flight Vis: Wildlife Awareness
ASI Online: Heads Up! Improving Runway Safety
Premium On Safety - Issue 10, 2013
Premium On Safety - Issue 10, 2013 - Contents (Page 1)
Premium On Safety - Issue 10, 2013 - Contents (Page 2)
Premium On Safety - Issue 10, 2013 - Best Practices: The Accident Number (Page 3)
Premium On Safety - Issue 10, 2013 - Accident Prevention: Putting It All on the Line (Page 4)
Premium On Safety - Issue 10, 2013 - ASI Message: Push the Buttons—Capiche? (Page 5)
Premium On Safety - Issue 10, 2013 - Flight Vis: Wildlife Awareness (Page 6)
Premium On Safety - Issue 10, 2013 - ASI Online: Heads Up! Improving Runway Safety (Page 7)
Premium On Safety - Issue 10, 2013 - ASI Online: Heads Up! Improving Runway Safety (Page 8)
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