Birds vs. Planes

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

BIRDS VS. PLANES

Birds and planes don't mix. According to a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) recently negotiated among several federal agencies (including the
Transportation, Defense, and Interior Departments, as well as U.S. EPA),
since 1960 "aircraft collisions with wildlife have destroyed 20
U.S.-registered civil aircraft and killed over 95 civilians. Since 1985,
aircraft-wildlife collisions have destroyed 23 U.S. military aircraft
and killed 33 military personnel." 

According to the MOU, reprinted in the January 26, 1999 issue of Defense
Environmental Alert, the collisions are even more destructive to our
fine feathered friends. Civil aircraft alone kill about 23,000 birds
each year, including a small number from protected species. About 90
percent of the collisions occur "on or near airfields when aircraft are
at altitudes under 2,000 feet," where flight operations are most
difficult.

The MOU, spearheaded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), is
designed to emphasize "concern about developing or expanding municipal
solid waste landfills, wetlands, wetlands mitigation projects, or
wildlife refuges, near airports and vice versa." It notes that airports
and airbases have historically been constructed in wetland areas, and
that state and federal agencies are engaged in major efforts to restore
wetlands habitat. As a result, there are concentrations of hazardous
wildlife near airfields.

To minimize the dangers, the signatories agreee to minimize  both the
construction of airports near wildlife refuges and the creation of
wildlife refuges near airports, and other actions that bring birds and
planes into intersecting flights paths. The document appears to suffer
from a bias toward protecting airfield investments, but it's somewhat
hard to say because it refers repeatedly to an FAA document that I've
never seen (Advisory Circular 150/5200-33).

At major airports and airbases, the MOU is likely to discourage habitat
restoration, but at closing or recently closed military bases, such as
Moffett Field, the presence of sensitive or extensive wildlife resources
should be an argument for limiting human, not avian flight.

Lenny Siegel

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Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org
(PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE PHASING OUT
MY OLD E-MAIL ADDRESS: lsiegel@igc.org)
http://www.cpeo.org