The number of wildlife strikes reported to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2015 was 13,795, a new record, according to data in Wildlife Strikes to Civil Aircraft in the United States 1990–2015, published late last year. The “Wildlife Strike Report as it is know is issued annually by FAA in conjunction with the Wildlife Services program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The report has been published annually since 1995.
The total included 13,546 strikes in the United States and 249 strikes on U.S.-registered aircraft in foreign countries. (Figure 1) In 1990, the first year for which data were collected, there were 1,847 reported strikes. Much of the increase since 1990 likely is due to recognition by the aviation community of the importance of wildlife strike reporting. The addition in 2001 of an online version of FAA Form 5200-7, “Bird/Other Wildlife Strike Report,” made reporting easier, and in 2015,…
