Lawmaker calls for a closer look at bird-airplane collisions

The United Airlines Boeing 767 had climbed just 800 feet when its captain noticed an unwelcome sight. A flock of ducks and no room to maneuver.

"In less than a second, the airplane struck the ducks," the National Transportation Safety Board report reads.

Sucked into the Boeing's left engine, the birds damaged the fan blades and caused a shutdown. But like the New York City miracle - although not as dramatic - the plane landed safely, in this case back at O'Hare International Airport.

That March 15, 2007, incident in Chicago is one of thousands involving airplanes and wildlife that occur every year.

"It's a fact of life and we're trained to deal with it," United Airlines captain Kevin Dohm of Arlington Heights said.

The NTSB is still investigating the emergency landing of a US Airways jetliner in the Hudson River minutes after colliding with a flock of birds. The actions of the pilot and nearby rescuers in boats saved all 155 on board.

Between 1990 and 2007, there were 82,057 collisions with aircraft and wildlife in the United States, authorities report, and as air traffic increases, so do the incidents. The strikes, 98 percent of which involved birds, resulted in 11 deaths.

U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, who sits on the influential House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, acknowledged bird strikes happen all the time.

But "I think the issue of birds around airports should get a closer look after this incident," the Western Springs Democrat said, adding that a committee hearing would be an appropriate reaction.

Six U.S. Department of Agriculture employees patrol O'Hare and Midway International Airport to ward off wildlife problems. The department has similar teams at more than 700 airports and air bases across the country.

"Our main line of defense is habitat modification," said Travis Guerrant, a biologist with the USDA's wildlife services division stationed at O'Hare. "We try to make the habitat inhospitable to wildlife."

What this involves is landscaping the airport with grasses such as fescue that birds dislike, installing netting over detention ponds and using noisemakers to scare off animal intruders.

The agency is also researching the use of radar to study flight patterns at O'Hare to better predict behavior.

"Since 2000, the trend for O'Hare is downward," Guerrant said.

Major pests are gulls, raptors and water fowl including Canada geese and ducks.

What's so attractive about an airport?

"They like open vistas where they can see a long way, where they can be relatively undisturbed, not chased by dogs and where people aren't walking by," Field Museum conservation ecologist and ornithologist Doug Stotz explained.

Most interactions with airplanes occur below 500 feet off the ground but during migration in the fall and spring, birds can be flying at several thousand feet, experts say.

The low altitudes mean most incursions happen during takeoffs and landings "when the aircraft is vulnerable," US Airline Pilots Association spokesman and US Airways captain James Ray said.

And while "there's bird strikes every day, it's unusual to bring down a major airliner," he added.

Jetliners are designed to be able to operate on just one engine and that's how Dohm safely landed an airplane in Boston after seagulls collided into it.

"Pilots go through extensive training for single-engine flying, there are so many reasons you could lose a motor," Dohm said.

Often bird strikes aren't noticeable until the plane is on the ground and pilots are inspecting it, he added.

DePaul University transportation expert Joe Schwieterman predicts the close call in New York will trigger calls for better methods of reducing the bird population at airports.

But "technology has real limits in solving the problem. Urban areas with seagulls and pigeons are the hardest problems to solve," Schwieterman added.

US Airways' Ray notes, "Some airports do their part and some don't."