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Abstract

Content

Introduction

Ukraine, as a signatory to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, Chicago 1944, has accepted obligations to carry out of the provisions specified in Annex 14 to the Convention. Annex 14, published by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), includes standards and recommended practices (SARPs) that address the risk of a birdstrike and a potential increase of the birdstrike risk due to the presence or development of bird-attractant features on, or in the vicinity of, an aerodrome.

In Ukraine, the aerodrome license holder shall take all reasonable steps to secure that the aerodrome and the airspace within which its visual traffic pattern is normally contained are safe at all times for use by aircraft. The license holder is therefore responsible for the development and implementation of birdstrike risk control measures. Birdstrike risk management is an integral part of the aerodrome operators safety management culture and its safety management system (SMS).

A bird strike is strictly defined as a collision between a bird and an aircraft which is in flight or on a take off or landing roll.

The nature of aircraft damage from bird strikes, which is significant enough to create a high risk to continued safe flight, differs according to the size of aircraft. Small propeller-driven aircraft are most likely to experience hazardous effects of strikes as structural damage, such as the penetration of flight deck windscreens and damage to control surfaces or the empennage. Larger jet-engined aircraft are most likely to experience hazardous effects of strikes as the consequences of engine ingestion. Complete Engine failure or serious power loss, even on only one engine, may be critical during the take-off phase for aircraft. In the case of bird ingestion into more than one engine, all aircraft are vulnerable to loss of control. In some cases, especially smaller fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, windscreen penetration may result in injury to pilots or other persons on board and has sometimes led to loss of control [8].

1. General situation

Today the bird strike is one of the most dangerous types of air incidents, responsible each year for the tremendous damage caused by aircraft, and sometimes in a dramatic loss of human lives. ICAO registers about 5 400 aircraft collisions with birds every year/ In the period 1988 – 2006 aircraft due to collisions with birds in the world has been damaged 163 aircraft and 194 people have died [2].

Air transport has an annual standard 5-% increase. The number of birds that live in the city, including the areas of airport complexes, and increases in the same rate. This aspect is a major prerequisite for flight accidents and a lot of research and development been devoted to special regulations.

To carry out a visual and radar control and massive accumulations of bird migration on the road and airfield technical equipment in order to eliminate the concentration of birds in areas of responsibility of the airports have been established inspection teams of aviation ornithology. Specialists of these groups are designed to implement on the ground of modern methods of ornithological safety. Aviation ornithology group must operate in day and night duty (not all airports follow this requirement).

The risk of collision of aircraft with birds was calculated, depending on the flight altitude:

Not only the engines are frequent targets (44%), but the wing – 31%, frontal glazing – 6%, the radar antenna – 6%, the fuselage – 5%, stabilizer – 3%, headlight – 2.6%, the chassis – 2 %, nose – 0.4% [1].

2. Statistics

Based on the Information about the state of flight safety of civil aircraft of Ukraine [3,4,5,6,7,9,10], that is monthly published by The State Aviation Administration of Ukraine, the state of ornithological safety in Ukraine in 2011 were analyzed.

As a result of the analysis 30 facts of the collision of civil aircraft with birds were detected on the territory of Ukraine during 2011. Collisions with birds on the individual phases of flight (pic. 2) as follows: during the landing approach was 9 (30%) collisions, during the run on the airstrip 8 (27%) collisions took place, during take-off – 5 (16%) and 8 (27%) collisions took place at an unknown stage of the flight. The distribution of the collision of aircraft with birds on the territory of Ukraine for 2011 is illustrated in pic. 1.

Collision of aircraft with birds in 2011

Picture 1 – Collision of aircraft with birds in 2011

Collisions with birds on the individual phases of flight

Picture 2 – Collisions with birds on the individual phases of flight (Animation: volume – 125 кБ; size – 934х291; quantity of frames – 6; quantity of loops - 7)

3. Bird Attractant Habitats On-Aerodrome

The differing landscapes on the aerodrome may create a variety of attractants that need to be identified and assessed, to determine the appropriate prevention or control actions required.

3.1 Food

Birds require high-energy foods and many species depend on earthworms, snails, slugs, spiders, millipedes, and insects (especially larvae) present in grassland and the underlying soil. Fieldfares, redwings and starlings may occur in large flocks to feed on soil invertebrates on aerodromes. Carnivorous birds may feed on small mammals, such as rodents.

Very few birds eat grass. Only Geese and some other Wildfowl graze grass and, then, only when it is short and in vigorous growth. Therefore, the grass itself is not a bird attractant but other plants among it can attract large numbers of birds. The leaves, flowers and seeds of weeds, such as clovers, Trifolium spp., dandelion Taraxacum officinale, chickweeds Stellaria media and Cerastium spp., vetches Vicia spp. and Lathyrus spp., are food for Pigeons, Game birds, Finches and other small birds. Therefore, consideration should be given to the need to minimise or eliminate such attractants through, for example, the use of herbicides.

Parts of an aerodrome are sometimes let for growing crops. Although tall crops are mostly unattractive to birds, they have the potential to cause a variety of problems immediately adjacent to the movement areas. Activities like ploughing, harrowing and cropping which disturb the soil, and also sludge spraying, manure spreading, seed drilling, ripe crops, harvesting, and hay and silage cutting create feeding opportunities for Gulls, Lapwings, Corvids, Starlings and Pigeons. Such activities inevitably attract birds and will increase the resources required for bird control. Having fed, birds such as Gulls and Lapwings will rest in the vicinity for many hours.

Wastes from in-flight and terminal catering areas, litterbins in car parks and viewing terraces, etc. attract Gulls, Feral pigeons, Corvids, Starlings and other Passerines.

3.2 Open Terrain

Flat, open terrain is an inherent characteristic of an aerodrome, which cannot be modified. Expanses of grassland covering large areas between runways, taxiways and aprons and paved surfaces create bird attractions on aerodromes, as do buildings and other installations such as radar towers. Open terrain attracts all species except those which avoid danger by living in trees or dense cover. However, maintaining the grass sward at an appropriate height can eliminate the open aspect on the grassed areas. The bird attractant aspects of open terrain are relatively simple and well understood, and effective countermeasures are available.

The presence of other, less prominent features such as open drainage ditches, ponds, scrub, bushes and trees, earth banks, and waste food also provide more habitats, for larger numbers of birds and additional species, to exploit.

Attention should be paid to grass reinstatement in areas after aerodrome works.

Seasonal overflow car parks may provide out-of-season undisturbed refuges for birds.

3.3 Landscaping

Landscaping schemes have the potential to:

Generally, in terms of bird attraction, landscaping schemes attract smaller concentrations of birds from a smaller area, have less potential for increasing birdstrike risk than developments such as landfills, sewage treatment plants and wetlands, and have much in common with many natural and semi-natural features commonly found around aerodromes.

Landscapes commonly include trees and shrubs, which may provide food and shelter for nesting and roosting. Finches, Thrushes, Pigeons and Starlings commonly feed on fruits and berries. Finch flocks will only move onto aerodromes where there is a weed seed food source, and native thrushes do not form flocks or visit the open spaces of aerodromes to a significant extent. Thus in the autumn, masses of berries may attract large flocks to the aerodrome and, once the berries are all eaten, the flocks move onto the aerodrome to hunt earthworms, etc.

3.4 Nests and Roosts

Many birds nest in trees and bushes. Rooks nest colonially in traditional rookeries in small woods and lines of mature trees but recently they have expanded into a wider variety of smaller trees and man-made structures, such as aerodrome lighting gantries and electricity distribution pylons. Wood pigeons nest in dense bushes, hedgerows and woods.

From late summer through the winter, starlings form large communal roosts in dense vegetation such as thorn thickets, game coverts, young unthinned Conifer plantations, shelter and screening belts and reed beds. Less dense cover may be used where there is artificial shelter from nearby large buildings.

Buildings and structures with access holes and crevices provide nest sites and roosts, especially for Feral pigeons and Starlings. Pigeons roost and nest on ledges on the exteriors of buildings and inside them.

Derelict aircraft provide nesting and roosting sites for Starlings, Feral pigeons, Stock doves, Jackdaws and Pied wagtails.

3.5 Water

Open standing water and watercourse attract Waterfowl that are nearly all large birds and may also occur in large flocks. Waterfowl resort to water for security and it is usually impossible to evict them with scaring devices. The more open water sites there are on and around an aerodrome, the more complex and frequent will be the movements of Waterfowl between them. There may be more activity at night than during the day.

Wet and waterlogged grass attracts feeding Ducks (especially at night) and nesting Waders, and drainage should be installed or improved, wherever possible. Flooding flushes soil invertebrates to the surface making them very accessible to birds, attracting Ducks, Gulls and Waders.

Larger, permanent waters, such as ponds, balancing reservoirs, etc., attract Ducks, Geese, Swans, Herons, Coot, Moorhen and Cormorants.

4. Bird Attractant Habitats Off-Aerodrome

Birds can travel long distances relatively quickly; therefore an environment that does not meet all their requirements can be exchanged for one that does. Birds can establish nesting colonies or overnight roosts at sites remote from disturbance and commute to distant feeding grounds. If feeding sites are widely distributed and numerous (e.g. ploughed fields in autumn), daily dispersion may be diffuse or unpredictable, with the overnight roost the only constant feature. Flying from one site to another may establish bird flightlines that traverse an aerodrome or low level aircraft arrival or departure routes. The aerodrome itself may be the birds' destination.

A food supply that is concentrated and abundant at only a few sites causes fixed dispersal patterns and more predictable dawn and dusk flightlines. Overnight roosts for birds such as Gulls, Corvids and Starlings tend to be very stable and fulfil a social function as well as providing shelter and security.

Species that depend on abundant food supplies tend to roost in larger aggregations, and it is thought that the roost assembly provides a mechanism for the transmission of information on the location of food. Awareness and understanding of bird concentrations and movements can improve the efficiency of bird control on the aerodrome. For example, if the dusk return passage of Gulls over the aerodrome to a roost is understood, aerodrome bird control personnel may be able to warn air traffic control at the appropriate time. Similar precautions may be taken for dawn and dusk movements of starlings, or it may also be possible to locate the roost site and disperse the birds to another roosting site. Also, the spring build-up at a local rookery can be predicted and plans made for action to deny breeding success.

Sandy and muddy shores, especially around estuaries, support very large numbers of Gulls, Waders, and, sometimes, Wildfowl. Generally, coastal aerodromes have larger numbers of birds of more species, whose activity patterns are complicated by tide state and more affected by the weather, than at inland aerodromes.

Wastes from household and commercial premises contain a high proportion of waste food which, in a landfill site, supports very large numbers of Gulls. Corvids and Starlings also feed on landfills but their concentrations and flightlines are more local and less pronounced. They usually present no significant contribution to the birdstrike risk except where the landfill is very close to the aerodrome.

Populations of birds with specialised aquatic habits are concentrated on and around freshwater bodies that may be relatively widely separated in the landscape. In addition, large water supply reservoirs, canal feeder reservoirs, and other large lakes may be used as regular overnight roosts by tens of thousands of Gulls.

Mineral extraction does not itself attract birds. However, the large voids created sometimes fill with water either during working (wet extraction) or, when they are worked out, are allowed to flood and restored as amenity lakes or nature reserves.

Growing and harvesting crops inevitably attracts birds at some stage. However, the attraction usually arises suddenly and persists for only hours or a few days. The contribution of agricultural activities to the birdstrike risk is mainly confined to local farms [8].

Conclusion

In this work we develop methods of improving the reliability of ornithological systems of flights support, and prepare recommendations for the conditions of a particular object and the real ornithological situation.

References

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