By Anna Gustafson
A year after a collision with a flock of Canada geese forced U.S. Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger to make a dramatic landing on the Hudson River after taking off from LaGuardia Airport, the federal government said bird strikes at area airports rose in 2009 despite efforts from the Port Authority to mitigate the problem.
There were 153 bird strikes at John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia and Newark airports in the first seven months of 2009, compared to 139 strikes during the same time in 2008, according to data released last Thursday by the federal government. More bird strikes occurred at JFK than anywhere else in the country, with 30 strikes incurring serious damage to planes since 1990, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Much public attention was focused on bird strikes following what became known as the Miracle on the Hudson Jan. 15, 2009, when Sullenberger safely landed the 155 passengers on US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson after hitting a flock of Canada geese upon takeoff from LaGuardia Airport.
City officials ramped up efforts to reduce the bird population around JFK and LaGuardia and a Port Authority spokeswoman said that over the past year the agency had hired a staff wildlife biologists to help them determine how to best combat the bird problem.
“We’re also having an independent assessment done of our wildlife hazard management plan,” the spokeswoman said.
Thousands of geese have been removed from area airports in the past year, including 1,250 geese at LaGuardia and 1,235 from other areas, the spokeswoman said.
The Port Authority has ramped up efforts to “discourage people, especially taxi drivers, from feeding the wildlife or leaving garbage around,” the spokeswoman said.
FAA officials said they have added new programs to better control bird populations around airports, including making the national wildlife strike database available to the public in April 2009. The FAA began collecting data in the 1990s for use by the federal government, academics and researchers, but only portions of it had been available to the public prior to last spring.
FAA officials said they are now developing a program to conduct wildlife hazard assessments at about 2,000 airports around the country, which they expect to launch later this year.
A College Point waste transfer station currently being built 2,000 feet from a LaGuardia runway has raised the ire of local residents and politicians, including U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside), who have said the project will attract birds. The mayor and FAA officials have disagreed and said the garbage entering and leaving the facility will be completely enclosed at all times.
The New York Post reported Tuesday that construction officials working on the transfer station placed a crane on a barge that was in the way of planes flying into LaGuardia. According to the Post, planes had to be diverted until the barge was moved.
“I am pleased that as a result of our efforts in opposing the proposed Marine Transfer Station in College Point, the [FAA] has agreed to implement an unprecedented bird strike prevention plan for the proposed trash site%u2026,” Ackerman said. “This is in addition to the sanitation department, also in response to our concerns, agreeing to lower the height of the planned facility by 12 feet.”
Under the FAA’s plan, the USDA will monitor all bird activity around the site. A biologist will visit the facility weekly for the first two years the station is in operation. ackerman said if the USDA’s biologist finds an increase in bird activity, the FAA would order the facility to close.
Federal officials said bird strikes are on the rise nationwide and the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported there may have been an all-time high of 10,000 reported bird strikes in 2009.
So far, the highest number of reported bird strikes was 7,507 in 2007, according to the USDA.
Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 174.
