FAA data analyzed by Newsday shows the number of bird strikes voluntarily reported by airports in New York City and Long Island has increased by 46% between 2009 and 2023. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.  Credit: Newsday/File Footage; Photo Credit: AP Photo/Steven Day, Bebeto Matthews; Getty Images

The pilot called into his radio, "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday," on the climb out of LaGuardia Airport, en route to Charlotte, North Carolina, with 200 passengers.

On a partly cloudy evening on Dec. 12, 400 feet in the air, American Airlines Airbus Capt. Robert Ioan and First Officer Stephen McKnight were flying at 150 mph when their plane  collided with at least one Canada goose, causing an emergency landing at nearby Kennedy Airport, according to data maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration.

"It appears we have an engine failure," the pilot said over the radio, according to air traffic control communications maintained by LiveATC.net.  “We hit birds on the way out."

In the 16 years since Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's Jan. 15, 2009,  "Miracle on the Hudson," reported bird strikes at New York City and Long Island airports have increased 46%, a Newsday analysis of Federal Aviation Administration data shows.

But the number of significant damage events, such as what forced Ioan and Sullenberger out of the air, have become less frequent and remain a rare occurrence, according to the data and interviews with experts and officials. 

There were 305 strikes reported in 2009 among the four area airports, two of them resulting in destroyed aircraft or other significant damage, which is characterized as a structural failure that hinders the plane's ability to fly and would likely incur a major repair.

Bird strike reporting to the FAA is voluntary and reported primarily by airlines, airports and pilots. In certain instances, the bird strike may be logged as a part of a mandatory report. 

During 2023, the last full year available, 446 bird strikes were reported. One led to significant damage. From 2016 to 2024, only three significant strikes were reported, when in the years prior, there were at least two annually. In 2005, for example, there were seven, the analysis shows.

Still, the recent LaGuardia incident and a Dec. 29 plane crash in South Korea, which killed 179 people and may have involved a bird strike, according to published reports, have put the issue back into public discourse.

Sullenberger's airliner striking a flock of Canada geese and landing in the Hudson River — where the 155 people aboard were rescued from the icy waters  served as a turning point in awareness and preparation, multiple aviation officials told Newsday.

Airports previously not mandated to conduct a risk management evaluation voluntarily undertook one, commercial airports hired biologists and a renewed focus on reporting any incident with a bird heightened, according to FAA national wildlife biologists.

"Airports were nervous about reporting strikes or airlines were nervous about reporting strikes because it might reflect poorly on them," Amy Anderson, FAA national wildlife biologist, said in an interview with Newsday.

Anderson, who is also chair of the Bird Strike Committee USA, a group founded in 1991 to educate and inform on bird strikes, explained the increase in reported bird strikes is in part due to greater awareness to log the incidents. In Texas, reported bird strikes have doubled since 2009, and in Florida, they have more than tripled, according to the federal data.

"It is simply a matter of the fact that they are being more mindful, being more aware of what’s happening and that data can help them to focus their money and efforts where they need to," Anderson said.

She and her colleague John Weller also pointed to the growing population of birds over recent decades.

For example, turkey vultures have doubled in population. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection estimates the Canada geese population doubled in the 1990s, according to the agency's division of science and research.

Changing migratory patterns, the FAA officials said, have also factored in. Traditionally, the fall months, especially October, are when the most bird strikes in the metropolitan area are reported.

"It’s always going to be reducing the risk," Anderson said. "Can we ever completely erase the risk of wildlife strikes? No. That’s just not possible. Wildlife do their own thing."

FAA data  shows more than 400 reported bird strikes annually in recent years at LaGuardia, Kennedy,  Republic and Long Island MacArthur airports. Data for 2024 remains preliminary, but the first several months show it on pace with 2023 numbers.

More strikes are reported at Kennedy than LaGuardia, although the numbers are closer when taking into account reports that include the remnants of birds found on planes when landing at the airports — not just hit at the airport itself. Reported federal data shows dozens of instances per year in which a plane arrives at New York City airports, run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and evidence of a bird strike is found. The strike is generally not reported as happening at or in the immediate confines of the airport.

"We have a lot of strikes because we’re very transparent," Port Authority Chief Wildlife Biologist Laura Francoeur said Wednesday. "We rather collect all that data than try to hide it."

Driving around the grounds of Kennedy, Francoeur named every bird over the Jamaica Bay by sight, including a herring gull dropping a clam onto the tarmac and cracking the shell for a bite.

The nuances of Kennedy, with a wildlife refugee as its neighbor on the other side of a chain link fence, pose specific challenges. Francoeur reviews construction plans during the ongoing airport renovation to ensure areas won't become bird habitats.

“We have to coexist,” Francoeur said. “It’s a balancing act to be able to have wildlife around, but not have them to be a hazard to aircrafts.”

The most common bird reported hit and identified is the herring gull. But the most likely to inflict significant damage is a Canada goose, according to Newsday’s analysis of the federal data. Canada geese typically weigh between 5 and 14 pounds. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in 2010 the Canada geese ingested into both engines of the plane Sullenberger flew were the likely cause of the accident.  

On Long Island, the federal data show little changes in the number of reported bird strikes. At Republic in Farmingdale, the last "significant" bird strike reported occurred in 2007 and at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, it was 2006.

Concerns over the Canada goose still remain prevalent, MacArthur Deputy Commissioner Rob Schneider said.

"That’s the Sully effect," he said.

Sullenberger was flying a US Airways Airbus when his plane hit birds only two minutes after takeoff. On a 19-degree day, two ferryboats and the U.S. Coast Guard rescued passengers lining up on the wings to be brought to safety. The dramatic events later became the basis for the 2016 film starring Tom Hanks as Sullenberger.

"There was a knee-jerk reaction immediately following the ‘Miracle on the Hudson,’ obviously because of the severity of it," Schneider added. He said airport staff undertook a wildlife assessment right after the historic day.

Long Island MacArthur Airport began using air cannons to "haze" — the technical term in the field — the birds from the runway. The cannon, a small but powerful propane-fueled metal canister, pops off at random hours, giving off the sound of a particularly loud bottle of Champagne.

"Last-case scenario would be use of lethal force" with a shotgun, said Al Cinotti, airport fire chief at MacArthur.

Key methods include ensuring grass height remains between 7 and 14 inches and maintaining the fence line to the airfield to avoid unwanted wildlife entering the area. Security staff conduct bihourly checks for birds and other wildlife.

On a recent morning at MacArthur, staff set off "screamers," which sound like nails on a chalkboard, sending a flock of small birds scurrying away.

For pilots, the ability to avoid a flock of birds is rather challenging, so experts emphasize the importance of reducing the risk before taking off.

Kyle Tarabokia, a pilot and flight instructor at the ATP Flight School at MacArthur, recalled the first time he struck a bird.

He was taking off and a turkey vulture came out of nowhere, striking the bottom of the plane. He landed and the plane turned out OK and he was safe, but he said he froze for a moment.

"You hear about it all the time," he said. "You don’t know until it happens."

"It’s not a question of will a bird strike happen — it’s when it happens, what weapons do we give pilots to ensure they’re defending the safety of our passengers" said Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots.

The goose that struck Ioan's American Airlines plane last month out of LaGuardia was just outside the 5-mile radius federal officials generally urge airport staff to police for concerning fowl, according to Weller, the FAA national wildlife biologist.

"Perfect examples of where an airport can do everything possible, everything and sometimes strikes will occur," Weller said. "There was a catastrophic event that caught the attention of the entire world and then we have something similar that happened almost 16 years later."

The pilot called into his radio, "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday," on the climb out of LaGuardia Airport, en route to Charlotte, North Carolina, with 200 passengers.

On a partly cloudy evening on Dec. 12, 400 feet in the air, American Airlines Airbus Capt. Robert Ioan and First Officer Stephen McKnight were flying at 150 mph when their plane  collided with at least one Canada goose, causing an emergency landing at nearby Kennedy Airport, according to data maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration.

"It appears we have an engine failure," the pilot said over the radio, according to air traffic control communications maintained by LiveATC.net.  “We hit birds on the way out."

In the 16 years since Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's Jan. 15, 2009,  "Miracle on the Hudson," reported bird strikes at New York City and Long Island airports have increased 46%, a Newsday analysis of Federal Aviation Administration data shows.

WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND

  • Voluntarily reported bird strikes at New York City and Long Island airports increased 46% between 2009 and 2023, according to a Newsday analysis of Federal Aviation Administration data.
  • But significant damage events, such as the "Miracle on the Hudson," have become rarer, according to the data and interviews with experts and officials.
  • The issue is receiving renewed attention following a December incident at LaGuardia Airport and a fatal South Korean plane crash.

But the number of significant damage events, such as what forced Ioan and Sullenberger out of the air, have become less frequent and remain a rare occurrence, according to the data and interviews with experts and officials. 

There were 305 strikes reported in 2009 among the four area airports, two of them resulting in destroyed aircraft or other significant damage, which is characterized as a structural failure that hinders the plane's ability to fly and would likely incur a major repair.

Bird strike reporting to the FAA is voluntary and reported primarily by airlines, airports and pilots. In certain instances, the bird strike may be logged as a part of a mandatory report. 

During 2023, the last full year available, 446 bird strikes were reported. One led to significant damage. From 2016 to 2024, only three significant strikes were reported, when in the years prior, there were at least two annually. In 2005, for example, there were seven, the analysis shows.

Still, the recent LaGuardia incident and a Dec. 29 plane crash in South Korea, which killed 179 people and may have involved a bird strike, according to published reports, have put the issue back into public discourse.

Sullenberger's airliner striking a flock of Canada geese and landing in the Hudson River — where the 155 people aboard were rescued from the icy waters  served as a turning point in awareness and preparation, multiple aviation officials told Newsday.

Airports previously not mandated to conduct a risk management evaluation voluntarily undertook one, commercial airports hired biologists and a renewed focus on reporting any incident with a bird heightened, according to FAA national wildlife biologists.

"Airports were nervous about reporting strikes or airlines were nervous about reporting strikes because it might reflect poorly on them," Amy Anderson, FAA national wildlife biologist, said in an interview with Newsday.

Anderson, who is also chair of the Bird Strike Committee USA, a group founded in 1991 to educate and inform on bird strikes, explained the increase in reported bird strikes is in part due to greater awareness to log the incidents. In Texas, reported bird strikes have doubled since 2009, and in Florida, they have more than tripled, according to the federal data.

"It is simply a matter of the fact that they are being more mindful, being more aware of what’s happening and that data can help them to focus their money and efforts where they need to," Anderson said.

She and her colleague John Weller also pointed to the growing population of birds over recent decades.

For example, turkey vultures have doubled in population. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection estimates the Canada geese population doubled in the 1990s, according to the agency's division of science and research.

Changing migratory patterns, the FAA officials said, have also factored in. Traditionally, the fall months, especially October, are when the most bird strikes in the metropolitan area are reported.

"It’s always going to be reducing the risk," Anderson said. "Can we ever completely erase the risk of wildlife strikes? No. That’s just not possible. Wildlife do their own thing."

‘The Sully effect’

FAA data  shows more than 400 reported bird strikes annually in recent years at LaGuardia, Kennedy,  Republic and Long Island MacArthur airports. Data for 2024 remains preliminary, but the first several months show it on pace with 2023 numbers.

Long Island MacArthur Airport Fire Chief Al Cinotti displays tools...

Long Island MacArthur Airport Fire Chief Al Cinotti displays tools used to scare birds away from airport property. Credit: Newsday/Drew Singh

More strikes are reported at Kennedy than LaGuardia, although the numbers are closer when taking into account reports that include the remnants of birds found on planes when landing at the airports — not just hit at the airport itself. Reported federal data shows dozens of instances per year in which a plane arrives at New York City airports, run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and evidence of a bird strike is found. The strike is generally not reported as happening at or in the immediate confines of the airport.

"We have a lot of strikes because we’re very transparent," Port Authority Chief Wildlife Biologist Laura Francoeur said Wednesday. "We rather collect all that data than try to hide it."

Driving around the grounds of Kennedy, Francoeur named every bird over the Jamaica Bay by sight, including a herring gull dropping a clam onto the tarmac and cracking the shell for a bite.

The nuances of Kennedy, with a wildlife refugee as its neighbor on the other side of a chain link fence, pose specific challenges. Francoeur reviews construction plans during the ongoing airport renovation to ensure areas won't become bird habitats.

“We have to coexist,” Francoeur said. “It’s a balancing act to be able to have wildlife around, but not have them to be a hazard to aircrafts.”

The most common bird reported hit and identified is the herring gull. But the most likely to inflict significant damage is a Canada goose, according to Newsday’s analysis of the federal data. Canada geese typically weigh between 5 and 14 pounds. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in 2010 the Canada geese ingested into both engines of the plane Sullenberger flew were the likely cause of the accident.  

On Long Island, the federal data show little changes in the number of reported bird strikes. At Republic in Farmingdale, the last "significant" bird strike reported occurred in 2007 and at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, it was 2006.

Concerns over the Canada goose still remain prevalent, MacArthur Deputy Commissioner Rob Schneider said.

"That’s the Sully effect," he said.

Sullenberger was flying a US Airways Airbus when his plane hit birds only two minutes after takeoff. On a 19-degree day, two ferryboats and the U.S. Coast Guard rescued passengers lining up on the wings to be brought to safety. The dramatic events later became the basis for the 2016 film starring Tom Hanks as Sullenberger.

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger landed the commercial jet on the Hudson River.

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger landed the commercial jet on the Hudson River. Credit: Getty Images/Andrew Burton

"There was a knee-jerk reaction immediately following the ‘Miracle on the Hudson,’ obviously because of the severity of it," Schneider added. He said airport staff undertook a wildlife assessment right after the historic day.

Long Island MacArthur Airport began using air cannons to "haze" — the technical term in the field — the birds from the runway. The cannon, a small but powerful propane-fueled metal canister, pops off at random hours, giving off the sound of a particularly loud bottle of Champagne.

"Last-case scenario would be use of lethal force" with a shotgun, said Al Cinotti, airport fire chief at MacArthur.

Key methods include ensuring grass height remains between 7 and 14 inches and maintaining the fence line to the airfield to avoid unwanted wildlife entering the area. Security staff conduct bihourly checks for birds and other wildlife.

'You don't know until it happens'

On a recent morning at MacArthur, staff set off "screamers," which sound like nails on a chalkboard, sending a flock of small birds scurrying away.

For pilots, the ability to avoid a flock of birds is rather challenging, so experts emphasize the importance of reducing the risk before taking off.

Kyle Tarabokia, a pilot and flight instructor at the ATP Flight School at MacArthur, recalled the first time he struck a bird.

He was taking off and a turkey vulture came out of nowhere, striking the bottom of the plane. He landed and the plane turned out OK and he was safe, but he said he froze for a moment.

"You hear about it all the time," he said. "You don’t know until it happens."

"It’s not a question of will a bird strike happen — it’s when it happens, what weapons do we give pilots to ensure they’re defending the safety of our passengers" said Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots.

The goose that struck Ioan's American Airlines plane last month out of LaGuardia was just outside the 5-mile radius federal officials generally urge airport staff to police for concerning fowl, according to Weller, the FAA national wildlife biologist.

"Perfect examples of where an airport can do everything possible, everything and sometimes strikes will occur," Weller said. "There was a catastrophic event that caught the attention of the entire world and then we have something similar that happened almost 16 years later."

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