Safety Study

Bird Strikes Events

Date:
October 2017
 Abbreviations

AIB: Aviation Investigation Bureau

BASH: Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard

IBSC: International Bird Strike Committee

EASA: European Aviation Safety Agency

ICAO: International Civil Aviation Organization

2
 Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….….….……4

Chapters Structure………….…………………………………………………………...….…….4

Chapter 1: Objective & Methodology……………………………………………………...…....5

Chapter 2: Overview…………...………………………………………………………...……….5

Chapter 3: Analysis & Results…………………………….………………….…….……...……10

Chapter 4: Recommendation………………………………….……………….………………..14

3
 Introduction

As soon as people started to fly, bird strikes became a significant safety issue. At present,
hundreds of bird strikes are reported every year, and the consequences vary between a
damage to a total aircraft hull loss.

It has been estimated that the material cost of bird strikes may be more than one billion
dollars annually. But in addition, there is the immeasurable cost of losing human lives.

How could we fly safely sharing the same sky with the birds? The question is difficult to
answer because of the complex reasons why bird strikes happen. The increasing number of
flights and growing bird population will also bring new challenges in the future.

This thesis approaches the subject by concentrating on bird strike events in Saudi Arabia.
The thesis reviews and analyze all bird strike reports received by Aviation Investigation
Bureau (AIB) between January and October 2017.

Based on the reports analyzed, the importance of good bird strike reporting was not yet
clear for all stakeholders. The altitudes, bird species, were often poorly identified, and a lot
of other valuable data, such as weather details, In addition, bird strikes that did not cause
any damage were often not reported. The aim in bird strike reporting should be better
quality and higher frequency than what is currently found. This could certainly improve
aviation safety.

Chapters Structure

Chapter1: is and introductory part, which gives a general idea about the objectives and
methodology of this study

Chapter2: Bird Strike Overview, which briefly looks at some interesting general information
and history of Bird Strikes.

Chapter3: shows the results of all variables that were analyzed in the bird strikes events
received by AIB from January to October, 2017

Chapter4: the discussion and closing part. It contains the conclusion of this study and
recommendations

4
Chapter 1: Objective & Methodology

Objective:

Bird strikes events in Saudi Arabia need to be analyzed frequently. This study attempts to
identify the strengths and weaknesses of aviation safety procedures regarding bird strikes in
Saudi Arabia and identify the level of existing reporting system and culture. In addition,
recommendations will be given in this regard, based on analysis results, in order to help
improving aviation safety.

Methodology:

 The Bird Strike reports were collected by AIB from Saudia Airlines, Flynas, Aramco,
SaudiGulf and Air Arabia for the period from January 2017 to October 2017.
 The following data were collected from the airlines :
o Date and Time
o Aircraft Type
o Flight phase
o Location
o Aircraft striked part

Chapter 2: Overview

2.1. What are Bird Strikes?

A collision between an aircraft and a bird is called a bird strike. Synonyms for a bird
strike are a bird hit and a Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH). Bird strikes are a common
flight safety problem, and they will become an even more significant issue in the future
as the number of aircraft and birds increases. Bird strikes are very frequent and may
occur to all aeroplane categories.
According to the International Bird Strike Committee (IBSC), bird /wildlife incidents are
divided into three categories as follows:

Confirmed strikes:
 Any reported collision between a bird or other wildlife and an aircraft for which
evidence in the form of a carcass, remains or damage to the aircraft is found.

5
  Any bird/wildlife found dead on an airfield where there is no other obvious cause of
death (e.g. struck by a car, flew into a window etc.).
Unconfirmed strikes:
 Any reported collision between a bird or other wildlife and an aircraft for which no
physical evidence is found.
Serious incidents:
 Incidents where the presence of birds/wildlife on or around the airfield has any effect
on a flight whether or not evidence of a strike can be found.

According to that definition a bird strike has occurred, if:

 A pilot reports a bird strike;
 Aircraft maintenance personnel identify damage to an aircraft as having been caused
by a bird strike;
 Personnel on the ground report seeing an aircraft strike one or more birds;
 Bird remains – whether in whole or in part – are found on an airside pavement area
or within 200 feet of a runway, unless another reason for the bird’s death is
identified.

2.2. History of Bird Strikes

Bird strikes became a safety problem as soon as people started to share the sky with
birds. The first bird strike happened already in the year 1905, and the first fatality was
caused seven years later in 1912.

A study published in 2009 and has been updated in 2012 in the IBSC meeting, shows
that the number of fatal accidents caused by bird strikes is 55 and number of fatalities is
276. Total hull losses up to 108.

An example of a bird strike was the crash of a Sita Air Dornier 228 aircraft on 28th of
September 2012 in Nepal. The aircraft was reported to have crashed shortly after taking
off from Kathmandu airport. The pilot had told the air traffic controller that they had hit a
vulture. The forced landing was unsuccessful, and all 16 passengers and 3
crewmembers died.

6
2.3. Which Part Of Aircraft The Birds Normally Hit?

Part of Aircraft The Bird Normally Hit

8%

13%
44%

31%

Engines Wings wind-shield nose

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has made research about accidents
caused by bird strikes between the years 1999 and 2008. The engines sustained
damage in 44% of the accidents. The wings were second with 31% and the wind-shield
third with 13%. The nose part of the aircraft was damaged in only 8% of the strikes
leading to an accident (EASA, 2009).

2.4. Which Part of Aircraft is the most sensitive?

EASA (2009) has performed a similar study where they compared bird strike accidents
between the years 1999 – 2008. This study pointed out the parts of the aircraft where
the bird strikes had caused damage. The result was that the engines sustained some
damage in 44% of the accidents. When the different engine types were examined more
carefully, they found that turbofan engines sustained damage in 53% of the cases. The
corresponding figure for turbo propeller engines was 38%, whereas reciprocating
engines were damaged in only 6% and turboshaft engines in only 3% of the accidents.
The wings suffered some damage in 31%, the windshield in 13%, the nose in 8% and
the fuselage in 4% of the bird strike accidents.

2.5. How are Bird Strikes Dangerous?

It is good to remember that most of the bird strikes may not cause any hazard and the
probability of dying in a bird strike is very small. It can also be misleading to think that
strikes with large birds would always be the most dangerous ones. Even a flock of small
birds can easily break an engine, windshield or another aircraft structure and lead to a

7
serious hazard to safety. The size of the bird does not directly correlate with the
damage sustained either. In fact, mass density varies a lot according to bird species.

For example, the Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) have a 27% higher mass density than gulls
and can form flocks with up to 10000 birds. This is why Starlings are sometimes called
“feathered bullets” (EASA, 2009).

Simply by following the laws of physics, the mass of the bird and the aircraft velocity are
the two values that affect the kinetic energy of the strike. This makes a significant
difference between the various phases of flight. During take-off, engines are often set at
maximum power, while during approach, they can be running at idle. High engine RPM
makes take-offs more dangerous than approaches if a bird strikes the engine.

8
 2.6. Bird Strikes Risk Assessment

Severity
NEGLIGIBLE MARGINAL CRITICAL CATASTROPHIC
small/unimportant;
minimal importance; serious/important; maximum importance;
not likely to have a
has an effect on the will affect the could result in
major effect on the
operation of event but operation of the event disaster/death; WILL affect
operation of the event
will not affect the in a negative way / the operation of the event in
/ no bodily injury to
event outcome / suffers serious injuries a negative way / death,
requiring minor first
requires medical or medical treatment dismemberment or serious
aid injury
treatment of minors injury to minors

LOW
This risk has rarely
been a problem
and never LOW (1) MEDIUM (4) MEDIUM (6) HIGH (10)
occurred at a
college event of
this nature
Probability

MEDIUM
This risk will MOST LOW (2) MEDIUM (5) HIGH (8) EXTREME (11)
LIKELY occur at
this event

HIGH
This risk WILL
occur at this
event, possibly MEDIUM (3) HIGH (7) HIGH (9) EXTREME (12)
multiple times,
and has occurred
in the past

Explanation of Risk Ranking

If the consequences to this event/activity are LOW / MEDIUM,
your group should be OK to proceed with this event/activity. It is
LOW MEDIUM advised that if the activity is MEDIUM, risk mitigation efforts
should be made.

If the consequences to this event/activity are HIGH, it is advised

HIGH that you seek additional event planning support.

If the consequences to this event/activity are EXTREME, it is

EXTREME advised that you do not hold this event without prior consultation
with Risk Management

9
 2.7. Bird Strikes, Growing Problem in the Future
Aviation is a rapidly growing business. More than 3.5 billion passenger were flown in
2015, an increase of 240 million compared with 2014. In 2014, The Airbus Company
has published a Global Market Forecast for the coming 20 years. The estimations in
that forecast shows a 4.7% annual increase in global passenger traffic. However, flights
In Saudi Arabia has also increased in 2015 by 9.6% compared with 2014 and 9.5% for
passengers in the same period.
But do we know how many birds there are sharing the sky with us? Globally, the
number of individual birds has been estimated at around 100 billion.
By looking at the numbers above, there is no doubt that bird strikes are a significant
safety issue now and in the future.

Chapter 3: Analysis & Results

This chapter shows the results of all variables that were analyzed in the bird strikes
events collected by AIB from January to October, 2017.

3.1. Number of bird strike reports collected

This data was collected from 5 airlines operating in Saudi Arabia, Saudia, Flynas,
SaudiGulf, Aramco and AirArabia. The total number of bird strike till end of October was
122. We found that the highest number of bird strikes was in May with 28 events and

10
 next in April by 18 events, 17 in March, 14 in September and 12 in July. However bird
strikes events was lower in August with 9 events, 7 in February and June. 6 were found
in October and finally 4 events in January.

3.2. Time when Bird Strikes occurred

Time when Bird Strikes Occured

30

50

42

6:00 - 18:00 (DAY) 18:01 - 5:59 (NIGHT) Unknown

Out of 122 bird strike events, we found that 50 events occurred in the daytime between
6:00 – 18:00 Local Time, which mean (40%) of the total. While 42 events (35%of the
total) occurred at night between 18:01 – 5:59 Local Time. Unfortunately time data for 30
events (25% of the total) is missing.

3.3. Time when Bird Strikes occurred (By Month)

Time when Birds strike each month

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
January February March April May June July August September October

Day Night Uknown

11
 After considering the probability of unknown missing data time, we found that the
number of bird strikes events is higher in the daytime in June, August and September,
while in October the number is higher at night. Also, we noticed that the number is very
high in both period of the day in May. Unfortunately, we were unable to determine
others because of missing data.

3.4. Phase of Flight When Bird Strikes Occurred

Out of 122 bird strike events collected between January and October 2017, 9 (7%)
occurred during take off, 20 (16.6%) during landing, 25 (20.8%) in Descent phase, 22
(18.3%) during approach, 15 (12%) during climb, 3 (2.5%) during cruise and 28 events
were unknown.

12
3.5. Location where Bird Strikes occurred

Location Where Bird Strikes Occured

40
36
35

30

25 24

20

15 13

10 8 8

5 3 3 3
2 2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
0

Between January and October 2017, bird strikes were reported from 27 different
airports in Saudi Arabia and abroad. In Saudi Arabia We have 103 bird strike events out
of 122, most of them were in Jeddah with 36 events (30%). Next in Riyadh with 24
events (20%), Abha with 13 events (10.8%) and both Dammam and Jazan have 8
events (6.7%). Other airports inside the kingdom have a total of 14 events (11.6%). 19
out of 122 events (15%) were abroad.

13
 3.6. Phase of Flight When Bird Strikes Occurred in Specific Locations

When we analyzed the flight phases in the highest bird strike locations, we found that in
Jeddah we have 16 events unknown and 9 out of 36 while descent. In Riyadh, we found
7 out of 24 events while approach as the highest. In Abha, we have 3 events while
descent and approach as most events occurred at this phase. 5 out 8 while landing was
the highest in Dammam. Finally in Jazan, the highest were during take off with 3
events.

Chapter 4: Recommendation

For over a hundred years, bird strikes have been a serious safety issue for the aviation
business. Year after year the sky is becoming busier, both for aircrafts and birds, and
the risk of bird strikes is increasing. However, AIB consider bird strikes as an important
safety issue, should be solved in cooperation with operators and regulator by following
ICAO procedures to mitigate this risk.

In this study, many observations and conclusions have been made. Based on this study
AIB recommends the following:

 Send all notification occurrences related to bird strike to General Authority of Civil
Aviation via Q5 system and a copy to Aviation Investigation Bureau.

14
 Increase quality of bird strikes report by making sure that form is completed properly
especially for those reports where bird strike didn’t cause any damage.
 Educate all employees in airports with the risks of Bird strike and followed
procedures and how important to prevent it.
 Identify all attractive factors to birds in the airports and take necessary procedures.
 Issue quarterly reports related to bird strike occurrences and send it to all relevant
authorities.
 Evaluate the efficiency of reporting system within (6) months from date of issuance,
and invite all related authorities if needed.
 Conduct annual Bird/wildlife control committee, with participation of all operators,
regulator members, airport planning, maintenance and operation.
 Establish bird strike committee over GCC.

15