Bird-plane collisions may pass 10,000, a first

WASHINGTON— Reports of airplanes hitting birds and other wildlife have soared in the year since a stricken US Airways jet landed in New York's Hudson River, and the government's tally for last year could reach or even exceed 10,000 for the first time.

Serious accidents are climbing at a faster rate than minor incidents.

There were at least 57 cases in the first seven months of 2009 that caused serious damage and three in which planes and a corporate helicopter were destroyed by birds, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of the latest government figures available. At least eight people died, and six more were hurt.

The destroyed planes include the Airbus A320 that, with 155 passengers and crew, went into the Hudson a year ago this week after hitting a flock of Canada geese. No lives were lost in that dramatic river landing.

But when a Sikorsky helicopter crashed en route to an oil platform last January after hitting a red-tailed hawk near Morgan City, La., the two pilots and six of seven passengers were killed. The lone survivor was critically injured.

And there is no shortage of frightening reports of knocked-out engines and emergency landings.

Why the increase in bird-strike reports?

Airports and airlines have become more diligent about reporting, said Mike Beiger, national coordinator for the airport wildlife hazards program at the Agriculture Department. But experts also say populations of large birds like Canada geese that can knock out engines on passenger jets have increased.

"Birds and planes are fighting for airspace, and it's getting increasingly crowded," said Richard Dolbeer, an expert on bird-plane collisions who is advising the Federal Aviation Administration and the Agriculture Department.

The surge in reports for 2009 — expected to be as much as 40 percent higher once the final accounting is in — comes in spite of government concerns that disclosing details about such strikes would discourage reports by airports and airlines out of worries about lost business. The previous high was 7,507 strikes in 2007. The government's estimate of as many as 10,000 for 2009 would represent about 27 strikes every day.