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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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