Preventing Wildlife Risks to Aircraft

I was with a relatively new student pilot. Got about 300 ft off of the departure end of runway 29 here. I saw three large birds. The trailing bird made a hard right and busted through the plexiglass windshield, hit me in the face, and then made its way into the back of the aircraft with my headsets. I realized at that point, wow, the plane is still flying. Without a windshield, we had a lot of drag. Fortunately, we had enough power to get back to the runway, landed safely, and then exited. Because aircraft and wildlife often share the same airspace, close encounters are not uncommon. Here at the FAA, we work to reduce the hazards of wildlife strikes to aircraft. We've been collecting strike data for over 60 years, and since we created the wildlife strike database in 1990, we've documented more than 315,000 strikes. The database provides information about each strike, including the type of aircraft and species involved, the location and phase of flight of the aircraft, and the time of day and season when the strike occurred. With information like this, we're able to help airports figure out the best ways to prevent these strikes, such as providing grants to help airports acquire appropriate wildlife fences or using lighting, noise cannons, or even other animals to repel wildlife from the immediate area. Using drones and other technologies for wildlife detection in conjunction with strike data analysis allows us to evaluate and improve our strategies to reduce or eliminate damaging strikes. To collect this critical strike data, we depend on people who have witnessed an incident or found evidence of a strike to report online. Working together, we can improve safety for the flying public.