Max Maddock in Newcastle did a very detailed study about bird strike
around airports about 5 years ago. This was in connection with a
proposed new airport in Newcastle mainly straddling Ash Island which as
many of you will know is a top spot for birds. Thankfully, sanity
prevailed, and the airport threat went away (to be superseded by the
threat of a new steelworks, then by .... whatever they think up next).
I'm not sure how Max's report was published, maybe it didn't become
"official". But there are lots of data in it that he pulled together
from a large number of sources. As those of you who know Max will be
aware, he is extremely thorough.
I'm sure he would make the report available to anybody who is
interested.
Alan
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Philip Veerman
Sent: Tuesday, 6 March 2007 12:40 PM
To: Birding-aus (E-mail)
Subject: Helicopters and wetlands - Altona
Martin wrote: "As you may have discovered there has been little work
done on the impacts of aircraft on birdlife in Australia."
There are reasons for not having good bird habitat near airports. That
is not an anti conservation statement. There have been human fatalities
& planes lost due to bird strike, although I think only outside
Australia. Outside Australia there are many references on this topic.
Taking this issue to what may be the inverse of what was intended, there
has also been little work done on the impacts of birdlife on aircraft in
Australia. The relevant Gov. dept did formerly have a section that
monitored this issue and had authorities to be involved with safety
issues at airports. They also issued annual reports for about ten years,
up until about 1987, of all bird strike events and hazards at all
Australian airports. Whilst at Canberra University I obtained these and
summarised their results by groupings of bird types according to likely
risk factors, as an unpublished report (1990) entitled "A review of the
use and effectiveness of methods for reducing bird strikes at and around
airports". 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.
Philip
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