The FAA has recently made requests through aviation media for us as general aviation pilots to ensure that we report each encounter we have with wildlife while we are operating our aircraft. To aid in the collection effort the FAA has established a new website: FAA Wildlife Strike Database.
From their website:
The FAA Wildlife Strike Database contains records of reported wildlife strikes since 1990. Strike reporting is voluntary. Therefore, this database only represents the information we have received from airlines, airports, pilots, and other sources.
There are two ways to view information in the database:
Do a quick search from the Search the Database page. You can export the results to Microsoft Excel.
Download the complete FAA Wildlife Strike Database in Microsoft Access format, and create your own queries.
Our search tool shows key information for each wildlife strike, including Date, Airport, Airline, Aircraft, and Species. To view all 94 fields of information for one or more reports, you must open the complete database. You can also visit the FAQ page for Frequently Asked Questions about wildlife strikes.
Quick Facts
- The FAA has maintained a wildlife strike database since 1990.
- The FAA wildlife strike database has recorded over 121,000 (Civil and USAF) wildlife strikes between 1990 and 2010.
- 92% of the bird strikes to commercial aircraft occur at or below 3,500 ft AGL (above ground level).
- In 2010, 52% of the birds struck were identified to the species level.
- During the five years between 2006 – 2010, there was an average of 26 strikes reported each day.