Providing a Model for Reducing Bird strikes in Iranian Airports

One of the important factors in locating and operating of airports is animals’ activities (especially birds) and their impact on the daily airport operations. Birds flying at different altitudes can have a serious impact on flight safety especially during take-off, cruise and landing. Therefore, airports must have an appropriate policy to eliminate the risk of bird strikes with aircrafts based on the birds’ characteristics and habitat location. Practical experience shows that bird strike events are common, and they are predicted to occur two to five times during the flight record for each pilot. According to the latest FAA’s data, between 1990 and 2005 over 40,000 bird strikes have been reported. Bird damage is usually proportional to the bird’s size and the condition of the engine power. The other important factor is natural habitats such as wetlands and lakes which are situated near airports and can influence the airport safety. This paper evaluates the impact of bird strike damage on aircrafts. In addition, it presents some effective methods to prevent and deal with these dangerous strikes at the airports. Based on the land potential for attracting birds and bird migration routes, Iranian airports in terms of bird strike risk have been assessed and ranked in three groups: airports with the high, medium and low risk.