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Madrid, April 9th. (EFE). -One out of fifty collisions between Birds and aircrafts can be considered a hazard for the damage caused to the aircraft, as reported by Javier Perez de Uribarri, Infrastructure and Environment Director at COPAC.

The Commercial Aviation Pilots Association responsible has stated that in the last 30 years these incidents have caused 200 deaths worldwide and emphasized that in 2005, only in the United States, more than 7,000 bird strikes were reported.

Uribarri recognizes that pilots face the problem of Bird strike hazards every day and that the chances of a collision increases because airplanes flow faster and the engines are quieter. Hence, birds do not warn its presence. Based on the pilot’s information, for every 1000 bird movements there is a bird strike, and when these incidents are detected they "must be reported immediately", mainly to the control tower.

"In addition, several reporting forms must be completed, detailing Species information, if it was a flock or only one bird, at what height it was flying, at what time of the day the collision occurred or by which side of the aircraft was flying," Uribarri explained, by noting that all this information is used for statistics that can help to prevent further impacts.

The Association representative specified that the area where you can encounter more quantity of birds is "below 10,000 feet”, so the airplane must not exceed a determinate airspeed in this zone.

That is due to the fact that airplanes are designed with a bird strike resistance at a certain speed, but the impact always depend on the bird’s size and body mass. According to the technical crew, the aircraft can withstand a two kilos Bird impact.

“The fuselage would only be dented without any further consequences." If the bird is ingested, the risk is greater. Just as it happened on January 15th when an US Airways jetliner impact with a flock of birds, 90 minutes after taking off from La Guardia Airport.

To avoid greater problems, the airports must adopt measures to control Bird /Wildlife, including a new radar system to detect the presence of birds, which will be tested in some U.S. airports.

The creators of this system believe that air traffic controllers may one day use the technology to delay takeoffs or reschedule the routes before the plane leaves the runway.

For the time being, many airports count on the presence of falcons, others use gunshot sounds through amplifiers or laser at different points of the runway. All this methods are used to scare birds and prevent them from accessing the flying area, although Uribarri has stated that wildlife should also be considered.

"It must be considered that impacts can also be with dogs or, as in Canada, elks can invade the runways," he said.

Among the mitigation measures to reduce Bird /wildlife hazard, Uribarri emphasized that some airports prefer to maintain their grassed areas at a specific height, in a way that animals don’t feel attracted and take refuge. As well, it is intended to avoid organic debris in the vicinity and what’s more, consider that aquatic birds can live in the humid zones that surround the airports, therefore is preferable to avoid them in the ground and in the air.