Environmental Impacts on Aviation

Wildlife and Their Threat To The Aviation World

Airport operation is not something to be trifled with when many mishaps could happen on a daily basis. Foreign object damage (FOD) caused by wildlife - specifically bird strikes, is one factor not to be underestimated which can severely impact the aviation world by causing damage to aircraft and/or engine which is also one of the most common effects of airport operations. According to Dolbeer et al. (2022), birdstrikes have been on a rise since 1990-2021 of up to 5times over the years. In the span of 32 years, there were 259,577 reported birdstrikes, and in 2021 alone, 15,556 cases were reported. Damages can range from a small dent in minor instances to significant lost of aircraft or even engine in extreme cases. Such is the case of the birdstrike that occurred in 2021 whereby a large American bald eagle was ingested into the right engine of an airbus 320, causing a fire within the engine which resulted in an aborted take off (Dolbeer et al., 2022). There are many factors that comes into play when operating an airport. Dealing with wildlife hazards requires much attention when it brings about considerable impacts towards safe operations. When birdstrike occurs, it induces a huge loss in revenue for operators due to aircrafts being grounded for repairs. Out of the 12,570 reports of birdstrikes - which is a small fraction of the total reports, this already led to a loss of approximately $840.6 million in man hours without including losses due to flight deviation, and housing passengers in hotels due to these deviations (Dolbeer et al., 2022). This goes to show how important it is to be aware of the hazards and resultant economic loss or even loss of lives that wildlife hazard poses.

Photo by Oberstar (2022), retrieved from FAA

How to mitigate this risk?

Wildlife is part of the larger ecosystem which plays an important role in sustaining life on Earth. This is why it is impossible to eradicate this risk, but there is an option to mitigate them. Having a robust management system to manage wildlife hazards is one of the many ways that can help mitigate this risk. Research can be done on local airports for the various wildlife that poses a threat when strikes occur to aircraft, in which the carcass can be sent for analysis to qualified laboratories to determine the different species within the vicinity of the operating airport (Dolbeer et al., 2022). From there, trends such as bird migratory seasons and their flight path can be determined, while analysis can be conducted on the common species within the area and the ways to avoid them. Other active measures can be taken to ward off wildlife either through auditory means with the use of pyrotechnics to scare off wildlife, or through exclusion means by removing food and water source, or even through reshaping the environment around the airport by removing trees or shrubs which tend to attract wildlife (El-Sayed, 2019).

In essence, wildlife can post a significant amount of threat to the aviation industry if not managed appropriately. Although these hazards are lesser known as compared to loss of control or engine in flight, it is not insignificant. Having a good management system in place to mitigate these hazards can ensure safer operations within the airport environment.

References

Dolbeer, R. A., Begier, M. J., Miller, P. R., Weller, J. R., & Anderson, A. L. (n.d.). Wildlife strikes to civil aircraft in the united states, 1990–2021. FAA. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-07/Wildlife-Strike-Report-1990-2021.pdf

El-Sayed, A. F. (2019). Bird strike in aviation : Statistics, analysis and management. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

Oberstar, B. (2022). Birdstrike damage to aircraft and engine [Photograph]. FAA. https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-07/Wildlife-Strike-Report-1990-2021.pdf