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International Bird Strike Committee
Mon 12/05/2003
CALLS FOR MANDATORY BIRD STRIKE REPORTING
The 26th Conference of the International Bird Strike Committee (IBSC) in Warsaw, Poland drew to a close on the 9th May 2003. After a compelling case, initiated by Paul Eschenfelder of the Air Line Pilots Association earlier in the week, the members of IBSC unanimously voted for the body to campaign for mandatory bird strike reporting.
The delegates, consisting of biologists, airlines, airport operators, regulators and suppliers, heard many examples of database inconsistencies and problems with data integrity. For example, in the FAA database 56% of bird strike reports were of species "missing". The argument was floated that without more understanding of the nature and quantitative measures of bird strikes, efforts to improve safety could not be guided, and the improvements could not be measured. Elsewhere at the conference, presenters cited "woefully incomplete" databases, "garbage in, garbage out", "inadequate data" and "reporting standards falling short".
In corridor debates, the challenges of data capture were discussed- from the difficulties of airfield operations staff capturing information at source to the politics at play in a competitive market. Although already mandatory in Canada, it was with little wonder the resolution carried, bringing to bear on the air industry the pressure of this body of experts.
Another resolution unanimously voted for by the members of the IBSC is to define and support best practice bird control.
Whether to support an ICAO move to establish a league table of birdstrikes per 10,000 movements was hotly debated and the motion was not carried. In addition to such a league table not enabling reasonable local management decisions, it was felt it would lead to airports with withdrawing from the process. The IBSC efforts would be more suitably focussed on advocating risk management frameworks.
http://www.int-birdstrike.com
The delegates, consisting of biologists, airlines, airport operators, regulators and suppliers, heard many examples of database inconsistencies and problems with data integrity. For example, in the FAA database 56% of bird strike reports were of species "missing". The argument was floated that without more understanding of the nature and quantitative measures of bird strikes, efforts to improve safety could not be guided, and the improvements could not be measured. Elsewhere at the conference, presenters cited "woefully incomplete" databases, "garbage in, garbage out", "inadequate data" and "reporting standards falling short".
In corridor debates, the challenges of data capture were discussed- from the difficulties of airfield operations staff capturing information at source to the politics at play in a competitive market. Although already mandatory in Canada, it was with little wonder the resolution carried, bringing to bear on the air industry the pressure of this body of experts.
Another resolution unanimously voted for by the members of the IBSC is to define and support best practice bird control.
Whether to support an ICAO move to establish a league table of birdstrikes per 10,000 movements was hotly debated and the motion was not carried. In addition to such a league table not enabling reasonable local management decisions, it was felt it would lead to airports with withdrawing from the process. The IBSC efforts would be more suitably focussed on advocating risk management frameworks.
http://www.int-birdstrike.com
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