Action Needed to Stem Rising Hazard of Bird Strikes

Air Safety Week, August 14, 2000

With respect to bird detection capability, Kelly pointed out that:

* Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR), installed to warn of severe weather (e.g., windshear) often shows large bird movements around the airport.

* Similarly, Airport Surveillance Radars (ASR), used to monitor approaching and departing aircraft, depict bird movements when the gain is set on high.

* The Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) has an effective bird detection range of about 64 N.M.

The FAA's radars could be integrated to provide a strategic view, Kelly believes. "The FAA has the largest system of unconnected radars in the country," Kelly maintained.

Even local, or tactical, applications are going unexploited, he believes. "Airports need bird detection radar. They're firing propane guns (to frighten away birds on the surface) but have no idea at night what's flying overhead, to warn pilots on approach," Kelly declared.

Coming Together

Pratt & Whitney's Parker observed that the goose population would, under the inexorable geometric progression of population growth, double in the next 5- 7 years. That projection implies an increase from 3 million to 6 million resident geese (geese migrating to/from Canada through the U.S. put the figure substantially higher).

Raising the engine certification standards, as urged by ALPA's Eschenfelder, is simply not enough to cope, Parker maintains. "We have 14,000 legacy aircraft making 16 million flights per year, and they'll be flying for more than 20 years," he observed. The engines on those planes are not likely to be replaced wholesale by "ruggedized" versions to better cope with strikes from large birds.

Moreover, while the FAA presently does not require more than a 4-lb bird ingestion for certification standards, the industry already is implementing proposed rules that "ratchet the large bird strike from 4 to 8 pounds," Parker said. He cited as an example the Pratt & Whitney engines for the Boeing [BA] B777 widebody twinjet; they were successfully tested against 8-lb. bird carcasses.

Nevertheless, he insisted, "An engine that will always tolerate 8-lb. birds is not possible."

ALPA's Eschenfelder takes a different view. The current engine certification rule, he pointed out, is "safe shutdown" after ingestion. In other words, he said, the current standard is "don't explode; don't catch fire."

"There is no run on time required," he said, such as being able to provide thrust after ingesting a large bird.

For the moment, the most direct action to mitigate the bird strike hazard is low technology but persistent population control.

At the same time, Eschenfelder believes an industry-wide education effort is needed. "Flightcrews do not know, nor are they required to know, how fragile their engines are. Airport bird control personnel cannot appreciate the importance of their work unless they understand the small number of birds the engines can ingest and continue to operate. The industry needs education on the importance of strike avoidance due to the thin safety margin provided by engine ingestion standards," he declared. (See related story on the deer hazard.) >> Dolbeer, Tel. 419/625-0242; Eschenfelder, e-mail eschenfedler@compuserve.com; Kelly, e-mail bashbam@aol.com; Parker, e-mail parkerr1@pweh.com; Cooper, e-mail jac@fw.umn.edu; DeFusco, e-mail russell.defusco@usafa.af.mil; Allan, e-m ail j.allan@csl.gov.uk; for information on Air Force bird strike hazard reports, see this website: http://www.ahas.com <<

Birds as "Feathered Bullets" Against Aircraft

Some basic facts: