Bird Strike Committee is a volunteer organization composed of a 10 to 15 person steering committee (with 2-3 members each from the Federal Aviation Administration, US Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, aviation industry/airlines, and airports).
When birds and airplanes meet, it can be incredibly costly - both in potential loss of life, and expensive aircraft repairs. Bird Strike keeps the statistics on these sorts of costs - the costs to airlines are:
- Approximately 219 people have been killed worldwide from bird strikes since 1988.
- Wildlife strikes cost US civil aviation over $620 million each year.
- A 12lb Canada goose struck by a 150-mph aircraft during takeoff generates the force of a 1,000lb weight dropped from a height of 10 feet.
- More than 760 civil aircraft collisions with deer and 250 collisions with coyotes were reported during the period of 1990-2007 in the United States.
- Studies show that only about 20% of bird strikes to civil aircraft at Passenger service airports in the United States are reported.
