Reply to the Globe article on Bird Strikes
(Editor's note: The Globe and Mail had a recent article on bird strikes at the Island Airport. You can find it at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090117.AIRPORT17/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/ The Globe concluded that bird strikes were less of a problem at the Island Airport than other airports in Canada. This is Barry Lipton's response.)
The article does not separate the bulk of the flights which are air training circuits from the Porter flights.
Barry Lipton
The article does not separate the bulk of the flights which are air training circuits from the Porter flights.
There were fewer that 15,000 Porter movements at the Island Airport in 2007 and they had 16 direct bird strikes for a rate of over 10 per 10,000 flights which is more that double Edmonton's rates.
The Island Airport is just a little more that half a kilometre away from a bird sanctuary. The Island and Bay are part of the Central Migratory Flyway and hundreds of thousand birds fly through here every spring and fall. The harbour and Islands are home to thousands of Canada Geese and Double Crested Cormorants,both large species that fly in flocks.
There is no way that the airport could predict or prevent a flock flying in for a landing at the same time a plane is taking of or landing.
Damage to the windscreen (and pilots) , damage to propellors, radome instruments and flight control surfaces are just as serious and more likely that an engine ingestion bird strike.
We should not count on another miracle on the Hudson, if there is a serious bird strike. A plane out of control on the Waterfront would be a serious danger to the people that live and recreate there.
Barry Lipton
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