TY - CONF
TI - The Effect of Local Weather Conditions on Bird-Aircraft Collisions at British Airports
AU - Manktelow, S
T2 - International Bird Strike Committee
AB - The majority of birdstrikes occur at or around airfields. Study into birdstrike prevention has focused on the control of bird numbers on airfields, and the success of control measures at this level has been mixed and difficult to assess. In order to properly assess the effectiveness of control measures it is necessary to have an understanding of the factors that contribute to birdstrikes and their relative importance. This study investigates the role of weather at and around the time of birdstrikes using birdstrike and meteorological data from nine British airports. Several variables were tested including wind speed and direction, rainfall, temperature, visibility and cloud cover. The results show that higher rainfall and temperature are associated with an increased chance of a birdstrike occurring and when studied in conjunction with bird behaviour would suggest that these conditions increase the number of birds on airfields. This supports research and observations from other workers in the field. Visibility was better at the time of birdstrikes indicating that poor visibility is not a major factor. Wind direction was a factor only for two of the airports studied. The other weather variables tested had no relationship to birdstrike frequency.
DA - 2000/04//
PY - 2000
SP - 318
EP - 329
UR - http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.513.4743
LA - English
KW - Attraction
KW - Avoidance
KW - Collision
KW - Birds
ER -