FAA data shows bird strikes getting worse

[thewayne]

The Transportation Secretary forced the FAA to release the bird strike data, and the data ain't good. Strikes are increasing in frequency in recent years, so does this mean that the birds are organizing and conspiring against aviation? Could be.

But what I'm wondering is whether or not the radar installations that are around airports are diverting birds from their normal migratory patterns and causing an increase in concentration of the number of birds per cubic meter of airspace around airports, thus increasing the statistical probability of a bird strike. They've proven that birds use magnetic waypoints for long-distance navigation, so could the radar be confusing them?


Anyway, the URLs, showing where you can download the data (incomplete as it is) and play with it yourself should you so desire.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/faadata.html

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/04/faa-bird-strike.html

Comments

[neefsck.livejournal.com]

Or: quite simply the increase in flights and a deviation from long established flight patterns (for planes) is just causing a spike in the data.

It'd be interesting to see if the same increase can be mapped world wide.