Between October, 2007 and January, 2009 there were four catastrophic aircraft accidents in the United States caused by collisions between birds and aircraft. Four aircraft were destroyed and 15 people killed in these accidents. In North America we place great importance on airport wildlife control, however none of these accidents would have been prevented by improved airport wildlife control. This reveals a gap in our safety management plan for preventing/reducing wildlife hazards to aircraft. This paper explains, using case studies, successful aviation mitigation methodologies used in the past to mitigate other aviation hazards such as wind shear, volcanic ash, winter operations including deicing and reduced runway friction. There is no reason that aviation wildlife mitigation should not adopt and use these successful strategies to close the existing gap and improve safety. Unfortunately too many working in this field have little knowledge of aviation safety strategies and therefore are groping in the dark for solutions. The understanding and application of successful methodologies is integral to any solution for this hazard.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/paul_eschenfelder/12/