USDA Reports on 25 Years of Wildlife Strike Data

More than 150,000 wildlife strikes were reported between 1990 and March 2015, according to a comprehensive listing released on Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The data was gathered from 1,850 U.S. airports and 280 foreign airports. There were more than 12,000 strikes reported in 2012 alone. A PDF report of strike data that covers approximately 600 examples gathered between 1990 and 2013 shows the serious impact birds and other wildlife could have on aircraft operations.

These new reports are additional to another detailed report released last summer jointly by the FAA and USDA. The more recent data is accessible from the FAA’s wildlife database. The USDA added that the examples are not intended to highlight or criticize individual airports because strikes have occurred on almost every airport in the U.S. In fact, many of the reported strike examples occurred off airport property during approach or departure.