Birds as a risk factor for air transport. A brief historical review and formulation of the problem

Abstract

Air transport has a positive dynamics of growth, and is the main mode of transport when transporting people over significant distances. Despite the fact that air transport is considered to be one of the safest modes of transport in terms of key indicators, air accidents, as a rule, lead to the death of passengers and crew members. When developing measures aimed at reducing the number of flight accidents, it is necessary to take into account the birdwatching factor, which can lead to the crash of an airplane of any class. The historical aspects of the problem of studying the probability of collision of an aircraft with birds are considered. The chronology of the formation of Bird Strike Committees for aircraft is given. The distribution of cases of birds hit at the impact site for civil aircraft is considered. The daily distribution of aircraft collisions with birds as a result of a combination of biological and technical factors is given. The seasonal distribution of aircraft collisions with birds is shown. It was noted that the collisions are recorded most often at the end of summer and the first half of autumn. The distribution of bird species according to the frequency of collisions with airplanes is analyzed. It is shown that the main danger for airplanes is doves, rooks, starlings, ducks, seagulls and storks. The distribution of events of collisions between aircraft and birds by aircraft classes is analyzed. It is established that birds most often encounter aircraft of the 2nd class, having a mass of 30 to 75 tons. The distribution of aircraft collisions with birds was studied in connection with their flight regime. It was revealed that the overwhelming number of cases of collisions with birds occur at low altitudes. It is suggested that one of the factors that provoke clashes between birds and aircraft is the impact on their bodies of electromagnetic emissions from airborne and ground-based radar stations located in the area of aerodromes. The necessity of developing a methodology for estimating the probability of collision of an aircraft with birds using the methods for simulating rare events is substantiated.