Status of Aircraft Bird Strikes at Airports in Korea

This study was carried out to secure basic data for a plan to reduce bird strikes by analysing information on collisions and bird species. We received 63 unidentified bird strike samples―for example, feathers, blood and tissue―from 8 airports in Korea from August 2009 to December 2010. We considered a bird strike sample as a case of bird strike, and used information on bird species that was identified by using DNA COI segments from the samples. Information was used on collisions from reports of bird strikes from airports and additional information collected from websites of KAC. From the results, 15 bird strikes occurred in Jeju airport and 8 bird strikes occurred in Gimpo airport. The occurrence of bird strikes was related to the number of aircraft movements in airports. However, we could not confirm the major bird strike species in each airport and also could not find the trend of the relation between the size of aircraft and occurrence of bird strikes. More bird strikes occurred during landing than takeoffs and engines made up the highest proportion of bird strikes. Seasonally, the occurrence of bird strikes was higher in October, September, November and May than in other months. This trend seems related to the patterns of the seasonal migration of birds. The daily pattern of bird strikes was higher in the morning and at sunset than at other times, and nocturnal birds were also struck at night time. This trend seems related to the daily patterns of birds.