In the current study, the authors reviewed the FAA National Wildlife Strike Database from January 1990 through July 2015 to determine whether red navigation lights on airplanes’ left wings were attracting birds and resulting in more strikes on the left side of airplanes than on the right. These and other similar studies prompted the FAA to change its standards for the lighting of obstructions, including eliminating the use of “steady-burning red lights from several obstruction lighting configurations,” the report said. A 1997 Australian study that found that Tasmanian silvereyes became disoriented under red light but not under white or green light.A 2006 study that found that more migratory birds flew circular patterns near a communication tower equipped at night with both blinking and non-blinking red lights than flew near a similar tower equipped with white strobe lights.The report cited two studies in particular, including: Other studies have found that communication towers that are equipped with red warning lights have recorded more bird strikes than towers that have lights of shorter wavelengths, the report said, adding that the results “may be related to vision in birds being generally less sensitive than in humans to the red end of the spectrum.” “Thus, another approach recommended for reducing strikes is to make aircraft more visibly detectable by birds,” the report said. Previous studies have determined that increases in bird populations and the advent of aircraft with quieter turbofan engines have led to an increase in bird strikes. Efforts outside the airport environment have had little effect. Wildlife ManagementĮfforts to reduce the number of bird strikes through wildlife management programs, especially removing habitat and food sources and using dogs, birds of prey, loud noises and other “harassment techniques,” have succeeded at airports and their immediate surroundings, the report noted. Nevertheless, the report said that the civil and military aviation communities “continue to understand that the threat from aircraft collisions with wildlife is real and increasing,” and noted that, worldwide, since 1988, more than 262 people have been killed and more than 247 aircraft have been destroyed in collisions between aircraft and wildlife. The number of damaging strikes, however, has declined since 2000 to 616 strikes in 2015, down 19 percent from the 762 reported in 2000. The year’s total represented a 1 percent increase from the 13,692 strikes recorded in 2014 and a 7.4-fold increase from the 1,847 strikes reported in 1990, the first year of record keeping. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), released in late 2016, reported a record 13,795 wildlife strikes to aircraft in 2015, more than 95 percent of them involving birds. The most recent bird strike data from the U.S.
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“However,” the report said, “additional research is needed to document bird escape behavior during encounters with aircraft and road vehicles to provide better bird strike mitigation guidance.” Record-Setting Year The study concluded that supplemental or modified lighting - for example, full-spectrum anti-collision strobe lights or pulsating lights - also could help birds detect and avoid aircraft. “We recommend that some simple operational changes in commercial aircraft procedures, such as using the leading-edge wing illumination lights at night, especially during periods of nocturnal bird migration, could enhance bird avoidance of the aircraft.” “Aircraft lighting can influence the ability of birds to avoid collisions with aircraft,” said the report on their study, published in the Spring 2017 issue of Human–Wildlife Interactions.