Hi All,
As there has been some writings on this I thought I should add some actual
(though quite dated) information, based on copying some old messages to this
list. This is derived from an unpublished report (1990) of mine entitled "A
review of the use and effectiveness of methods for reducing bird strikes at and
around airports." This was completed as part of my Habitat Management post
graduate unit in my graduate diploma in resource management.
Martin wrote: "Reading the offending report says that there
has never been a case of bird strike involving water birds - BUT THERE MIGHT
BE!!" Well I don't know if there has been a case of bird strike involving
water birds in Canberra. However there most certainly been
large numbers of them in Australia. My report collates the statistics over all
identified (or not identified) species over all of Australia for 1983 to 1988,
this being the period for which the Civil Aviation Authority was collecting and
publishing annual reports on the subject. Anyone who wishes to see this can ask
me to borrow it to photocopy it. It is 53 pages long.
Then again you may care to also ask Birds Australia Sydney
Office, who have been involved with the project at Sydney airport more recently
than that.
Philip
-----Original Message-----From:
Murray Emma <>To: <m("topica.com","canberrabirds");">>
Date:
Tuesday, 13 August 2002 16:36 Subject: [cog-l] bird strikes
at Canberra Airport
I
was wondering if anyone could help me with an interesting topic I am
completing for a Wildlife Management course.
I am specifically looking
at the problem of bird strikes (ie planes hitting birds or vice versa) at
Canberra airport.
Are there any land uses or environments around
Canberra Airport that attract large numbers of birds? and what types of birds
like the environments found within and around the airport?
Cheers
Emma
My reply to Emma and cog
list......
I completed a study on exactly this, several
years ago whilst at Canberra University. This addressed these topics
though not just for Canberra, (Sydney, Townsville & Adelaide had far
greater bird problems than Canberra). There are many references on this topic,
though mostly outside Australia. There have been several human fatalities
& planes lost due to bird strike outside Australia though I am not aware
of any in Australia. My knowledge of this makes things a bit awkward, for me
to help you too much. It is hardly appropriate for me to just give you what I
did, but then I am sure there is a lot more information since then, that you
can add to your research. Also the relevant Gov. dept did formerly have a
section that monitored this issue, staffed by former COG members: Peter
Davidson, Alison Rowell & Felix Schlager. They issued annual
reports of bird strike statistics and hazards at all Australian airports for
about ten years up until about 1987. I summarised these by
groupings of bird types according to likely risk factors. The only Australian
reference book I know of on the subject is: G.F. van Tets, W.J.M. Vestgens,
A.H. D'Andria & R. Barker, 1977 "Guide to the recognition of aerodrome
bird hazards" Australian Department of Transport & AGPS. ISBN: 0 642 01313
6. I have this book at home.
Philip
