Bird Strikes and Aviation Safety

A bird strike happens when a flying aircraft hits a bird. When the aircraft hits other animals too (like bats, deer or stray dogs on a runway), experts use the wider term wildlife strike. Most strikes do little harm. But a strike can crack a windshield, damage a wing, or kill an engine if birds are sucked into it. That is why every airport must plan carefully to keep birds away from aircraft.

Why is a small bird so dangerous?

The danger comes from speed, not from the size of the bird. The force of a hit depends on the bird's weight and on the square of the aircraft's speed. So if the speed doubles, the force of the hit becomes about four times bigger. A bird of a few kilograms hitting a plane during take-off can hit as hard as a heavy object falling from a tall building.

A jet engine also works like a giant fan that pulls air in. If a flock of birds is pulled in, the fan blades can bend or break and the engine can lose power.

When and where do most strikes happen?

Most bird strikes happen close to the ground. These are the moments of take-off, climb, approach and landing, when the plane is low and flying through the same air space that birds use. This means the area around an airport, not the open sky, is where the real risk lies. Anything near an airport that attracts birds raises the risk:

• open garbage dumps and meat or fish waste
• slaughterhouses and open drains
• water bodies, wetlands and marshes
• tall grass, fruit trees and crops that give birds food or shelter

Famous cases that showed the danger

Two cases are often discussed:

• US Airways Flight 1549 (15 January 2009): Soon after take-off from New York, the plane hit a flock of Canada geese and lost power in both engines. The pilots landed it on the Hudson River, and everyone on board survived. It is often called the "Miracle on the Hudson".
• Jeju Air Flight 2216 (29 December 2024): A Boeing 737-800 crash-landed at Muan airport in South Korea and 179 people died. The preliminary report by South Korea's accident investigation board found duck remains in both engines. The full causes, including the role of the pilots' actions and a concrete structure at the runway end, were still under investigation as of 2026.

The global rules: ICAO

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is the United Nations body that sets common safety rules for civil aviation. Its rules are written in "Annexes" to the Chicago Convention (1944).

• Annex 14 (Aerodromes), Volume I asks every country to set up a national system to record and report wildlife strikes, to collect strike information from airlines and airport staff, and to keep checking the wildlife hazard at each airport through trained people.
• Countries must send their strike reports to ICAO's Bird Strike Information System (IBIS), a global database.
• ICAO's Airport Services Manual, Part 3 (Doc 9137): Wildlife Hazard Management gives the detailed method. Its fifth edition (2020) stresses that each airport needs its own Wildlife Hazard Management Plan (WHMP), because the bird problem is different at every site.

How India manages the risk

India uses a mix of law, committees and airport-level plans:

• Rule 91 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937: It bans slaughtering and skinning of animals, and dumping of garbage and other waste that attracts birds, within a 10 km radius of an aerodrome (airport). The distance is measured from the airport's reference point.
• Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024: This new law replaced the old Aircraft Act, 1934 from 1 January 2025. The Aircraft Rules, 1937 (including Rule 91) continued to be applied under it, while new rules were being drafted.
• Airfield (Aerodrome) Environment Management Committee (AEMC): A committee at each airport that brings together the state government, local civic bodies, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), airlines and the airport operator. Its job is to clear garbage, slaughter and other bird attractions in the area around the airport.
• National Bird Control Committee (NBCC): A high-level national committee chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation.
• DGCA rules: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India's aviation safety regulator, requires every licensed airport to have a Wildlife Hazard Management Plan and to report every strike. In 2022 it asked airports to carry out a wildlife risk assessment and to patrol runways in random patterns, so birds do not get used to a fixed routine.

Methods airports use to keep birds away

No single method works for long, because birds get used to it. So airports use several together:

1. Remove food and shelter: clear garbage, cover drains, keep grass at a set height, remove fruit trees.
2. Scare birds: noise guns, firecrackers, distress-call recordings, lasers.
3. Use living helpers: some airports use trained dogs or birds of prey.
4. Watch and warn: bird patrols, and in some places bird-detection radar, warn air traffic controllers before a flock moves near a runway.
5. Strong aircraft design: engines and windshields are tested by firing dead birds of set weights into them, so they can survive common strikes.

Why wetlands and migratory birds make it harder

Airports near big wetlands face a special risk. Every winter, huge flocks of ducks, geese and waders fly into India from Central Asia and Siberia along the Central Asian Flyway, one of the world's main bird migration routes. Large birds that fly in flocks, low and at fixed times of day, are the most dangerous for aircraft.

Before building an airport near such a wetland, planners need a bird hazard study. This study maps which species come, how many, at what height, along which paths and in which months, so that runways and flight paths can be planned around them.

India's scale of the problem

As per a Lok Sabha reply in February 2026, bird-hit incidents at Indian airports rose from 775 in 2021 to 1,131 in 2022, 1,371 in 2023, 1,278 in 2024 and 1,782 in 2025. Delhi airport has often recorded the highest numbers among Indian airports. Many cities have grown right up to airport walls, bringing garbage, meat shops and open drains with them.

Commonly confused concepts

• Bird strike vs FOD: A bird strike is a hit by a living animal. FOD (Foreign Object Debris/Damage) is damage from loose objects like stones, bolts or plastic lying on the runway that get sucked into engines.
• Rule 91 zone (10 km) vs Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ): The 10 km Rule 91 zone protects aircraft from birds. An Eco-Sensitive Zone around a national park or sanctuary protects wildlife from human activity. They have opposite aims.
• Bird hazard study vs Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): An EIA looks at how a project affects nature. A bird hazard study looks at how nature (birds) can affect the safety of the project. A coastal airport near a wetland may need both.

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• Weak enforcement: Rule 91 is old, but illegal slaughterhouses and garbage dumps still operate near many airports, because they fall under city bodies that do not report to aviation authorities.
• Airports near wetlands: New airports near wetlands and coasts create a two-way conflict. Birds endanger planes, and the airport may disturb bird habitats. Conservation experts often argue that some sites should not be chosen at all.
• Killing vs managing birds: Some airports cull birds. Wildlife groups argue that habitat management and scaring work better and are humane.
• Data gaps: Strike reporting has improved, but some figures given at different times do not match, which makes trend analysis hard.
• Way forward: Experts suggest strict 10 km zone mapping with city bodies, bird-detection radar at high-risk airports, long-term bird studies before choosing new airport sites, and treating wildlife hazard as part of airport design from day one, not as an afterthought.

Concepts to Know

• Aerodrome: Any defined area of land or water used for aircraft to take off and land. An airport is an aerodrome with buildings and services for passengers.
• Flyway: A broad air route that migratory birds use every year between their breeding grounds and their winter homes. India lies on the Central Asian Flyway.
• Kinetic energy: The energy an object has because it is moving. It grows with the square of speed, which is why a small bird at high speed hits very hard.
• Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA): India's aviation safety regulator, under the Ministry of Civil Aviation. It licenses airports, pilots and aircraft.
• ICAO: The International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency set up under the Chicago Convention of 1944, with its headquarters in Montreal, Canada.