Are pilots required to report bird strikes?

Every airline has reporting criteria for pilots after a bird strike. Every US airline pilot is required to fill out FAA Form 5200-7 after a bird strike. This report is added to the Wildlife Strike Database, an up-to-date tracking platform used to determine the frequency and location of bird strikes in US airspace.



People Also Ask

The incidents are serious particularly when the birds, usually gulls, raptors and geese, are sucked into a jet engine and strike an engine fan blade. That impact displaces the blade such that it strikes another blade and a cascade can occur, resulting in engine failure.

MORE DETAILS

Birds can detect airplane landing lights and weather radar and avoid the airplane. Airplane colors and jet engine spinner markings help to repel birds. Birds seek to avoid airplanes because of aerodynamic and engine noise. Birds dive to avoid an approaching airplane.

MORE DETAILS

Which airports have the most wildlife strikes? Denver International Airport opened in 1995 in the continent's central flyway for migrating birds, according to online news site Denverite. The airport has the most reports in the wildlife strike database with just over 9,000 through the end of 2022.

MORE DETAILS

Under U.S. law, airline and railroad workers can't legally strike, and companies can't lock them out, until federal mediators determine that further negotiations are pointless.

MORE DETAILS

While over 90 percent of the reported bird strikes occur at or below 3,000 feet AGL, strikes at higher altitudes are common during migration. Ducks and geese are frequently observed up to 7,000 feet AGL and pilots are cautioned to minimize en route flying at lower altitudes during migration.

MORE DETAILS

Opening an aircraft door is impossible while the plane is at cruising altitude or above 10,000 feet due to air pressure. However, as the plane gets lower, experts say it is possible for a door to open as the pressure outside equalizes with the pressure inside the plane.

MORE DETAILS

According to Bird Strike Committee USA, an organization that strives to reduce bird and other wildlife hazards to aircraft, three types of birds represent 75 percent of all reported bird strikes: waterfowl (31 percent), gulls (26 percent) and raptors (18 percent).

MORE DETAILS

Can planes fly on just one engine? Absolutely. That is what they are designed to do. By law, planes have to be able to fly from point A to point B, over water, on just one engine.

MORE DETAILS