03/23/2009

Auburn Scientists Pursue Solution to Bird-Plane Collisions

AUBURN, Ala. — The amazing crash landing of that US Airways jet in the Hudson River in mid-January dramatically illustrated the dangers that threaten every time planes and birds collide in mid-air. And almost every year, the number of such bird-strike incidents goes up.

Federal Aviation Administration data from 1990 through 2007 show that 1,738 strikes were reported in 1990, but by ’07, that had soared to 7,439—a whopping 328-percent jump. And some in the aviation industry estimate that only about 20 percent of strikes are reported each year. Though the majority of strikes neither endanger lives nor damage aircraft, the threat is always there.

More bird strikes are occurring because more birds—including geese, turkey vultures, ducks and other sizable species—are flocking to and settling in at airports. Airports are ideal habitat, providing plenty of shelter and, the big draw, plenty of food, primarily in the retention ponds that are constructed at airports to catch and filter impurities from stormwater running off runways and parking lots.

At the FAA, drastically reducing bird populations and the serious safety risks fowl pose to air travelers is a top priority. Although the agency's safety manual for airport managers does include several bird-repelling tactics that some airports have found effective, they're all hit or miss. To date, no scientifically proven stratagies for warding off birds exist.

But the FAA is counting on a team of Alabama Ag Experiment Station scientists at Auburn to develop the first. In a multifaceted research project that the FAA is funding and U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife scientists are supporting, the Auburn scientists will design and build a prototype airport stormwater retention pond that does clean runoff to meet water-quality standards but that does not attract birds.

Collaborators in the comprehensive project include Auburn wildlife sciences professor Jim Armstrong, biosystems engineering professor Kyung Yoo, fisheries professer and water-quality specialist Claude Boyd, forestry associate professor Latif Kalin and USDA wildlife scientist Brad Blackwell.

The first phase of the project, which began in 2007, involves pinpointing the specific conditions and characteristics, or combination of characteristics, in, of and around ponds that birds, especially larger species, find most alluring. Those determinations, however, must be based on the final analyses of volumes of data—detailed data gathered over an extended period of time by observing specific ponds repeatedly and according to a rigid, set-in-stone schedule.

Armstrong, who heads up this phase of the project, turned that tedious, monotonous, exhaustive task over to Brian Fox, one of his graduate students, and USDA wildlife biologist and Auburn alum Wes Holland.

The two located and secured owners' permission to access 40 stormwater retention ponds near Auburn, from which they would collect and record information about the bird species they spotted at each pond and about specific pond characteristics, including surface area, depth and bank slope as well as plant life in the pond and other wildlife they observed. In August 2007, they set out on their mission, visiting one group of 10 ponds one week, another of 10 the next and so on. With each group, they would make five-minute observation stops at each pond twice a day, Monday through Friday, same time every morning and same time each the afternoon.

This coming August, when they make that final stop at their final pond, they will have traveled to and taken notes at those 40 ponds a grand total of 10,400 times.

Fox and Armstrong then will begin crunching that massive number of numbers, and the final analyses of the data will be the foundation for the remainder of the long-term, comprehensive project.

Using those results, Boyd, Yoo and Kalin will work together, each in his area of expertise, to move the project toward its goal.

Boyd's chief role will be to identify specific pond parameters and water-purifying systems necessary to effectively filter common airport pollutants, such as oil and de-icing fluid, from the stormwater that collects in airport ponds. Yoo, the soil and water engineer for the project, will incorporate Boyd’s water-quality results into the original data set to design a prototype pond that that doesn't attract birds but does purify the water to meet federal and state water-quality standards. Using scientific modeling, Kalin will evaluate the prototype pond’s hydrologic functions and pollutant-reduction capabilities, how changes in pond characteristics affect water quality and how effective the model pond would be at larger airport ponds.

The prototype pond will be constructed at a site in Auburn, and then the researchers will put it through stringent testing, tweak the design as needed and, finally, present it to the FAA as a scientifically proven, highly effective bird-deterring stormwater-retention-pond model that airport managers can consult and incorporate into their bird-management programs. The end result: safer flying.

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OFFICE OF AG COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING
Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 COMER HALL, AUBURN UNIVERSITY
AUBURN, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)
AgComm@auburn.edu

Contact: Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or creamjs@auburn.edu