Birds strikes

Birds can be a serious threat to aviation, as a bird strike in an engine will bring the airplane in serious trouble, in particular when a bird strike occurs with a heavy bird (like a goose) during take off. 

It is difficult to deter birds along a 3 km runway. Currently it mostly occurs by specially trained people that drive up and down the runway to chase birds with deterring sounds, fire works etc. It has to be done in a controlled way, as the deterred birds should not cross the runway. In spite of this, birds quickly learn when the chaser is leaving. Birds easily return and the the bird strike risk is present again.

The problem with birds concern the reward that birds experience (1) at the airport and (2) in the area surrounding the airport.

At the airport

Most airports tolerate birds along runways as long as a runway is not in use. This can be the case at large airports with unused runways for instance because of unfavourable wind directions. The lack of omnipresent and continuous chasing makes it difficult for birds to understand that the whole airport should be considered as a no-go area. Especially when the unused runways provide food and a safe and quiet environment.

Thus it is important to systematically provide a negative experience at a runway whether it is in use or not: any bird that approaches any runway should experience a cumulating, real threat. This can be done in an automated way, patented by CABWIM. CABWIM invites interested partners to develop this automated method.

Surrounding the airport

The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration in the USA) prohibits agricultural use of areas within a radius of 3 km. Such use would attract birds. However similar regulations are not in place in many countries (including the Netherlands) and productive fields are seen close to runways. In such cases migration to and from such fields should be prevented, by continually preventing birds to get access to the rewards (agricultural crops) in such fields.  In particular when the migration occurs across runways. CABWIM has several approaches to achieve such a prevention. One example is the goose detering robot (see Goose damage).

(This approach is all the more significant as goose management in the Netherlands does not cover prevention of rewards in the surroundings of Schiphol airport. Geese migrate from the small waters and lakes in the neighbourhood towards the agricultural crops next to the runway. 6 June of 2010 happened what was predicted: a bird strike between a goose and an airplane of Air Maroc. This plane could barely return back to Schiphol with one engine on fire.)