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SALT LAKE CITY - A report that the FAA fought to keep secret shows more airplanes are running into birds or other animals. The number has been rising steadily for years.
The report shows aircraft throughout Utah have hit birds and other wildlife at least 1,153 times since 1990.
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FAA makes public its airplane-bird strike data
The public is getting its first uncensored look at the government's records of where and when airplanes have struck birds over the last 19 years.Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered the report released Thursday. The FAA had been trying to keep the database secret since a U.S. Airways jet hit geese and landed in the Hudson River in January.
The FAA said the public couldn't handle the full truth about bird strikes. But Acting NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker says reporting bird strikes will help the NTSB and the FAA to find ways to reduce them in the future.
"The more data we get, I think we would be in a better position to take a look at what is happening, why it's happening," he said.
Rosenker says his agency has been pushing for better reporting of bird strikes for close to a decade.
"We believe this is something that would benefit the industry significantly and we've been on the record for it for just about 10 years," he said.
This report shows strikes in Utah have generally increased each year. The Deseret News reports in 1990 there were 12 strikes, but in 2006 there were 173. It's mostly birds, but also six deer, six foxes, two skunks and a raccoon.
According to the Deseret News, the bird most often reported hit in Utah was the horned lark, followed by gulls, ducks, kestrels and swallows.
The Salt Lake International Airport says it blasts air cannons or shoots the animals dead to keep them from colliding with planes.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
