Outside the Fence-MSN Airport: A Study of Goose/aircraft Strike Risk, Goose Flight Patterns, Heights, and Diurnal Timing

摘要

15 January 2009 US Airways flight 1549 struck a migrating flock of Canada Geese and landed in the Hudson River, leading to a media frenzy and calls for reducing resident Canada Goose populations to improve air travel safety. Madison Wisconsin residents near Warner Park protested proposed culling of park geese to supposedly reduce airport risks from geese, and involved me in hearings. The question of whether the Warner Park geese were a serious threat to local aviation safety, what airport risks realistically existed, and how they could be reduced led me to design and perform a study to answer those questions. Study results indicated Warner park geese constituted < 6.4% of geese flying through airport flight paths. Migrant geese that stayed 2-4 months in fall, attracted to local resident geese and feeding areas near the airport, were contributors to evidence of 10440 instances of potential risks for aircraft from geese moving through airspace within 2 nautical miles of the airport from 7 October-7 December 2010. Immediately turning over crop stubble of harvested corn fields near the airport that attracted feeding geese was predicted to reduce goose risk to planes by > 95% and be more effective, and cheaper, than culling geese.