Summary Of International Bird Strike Committee (IBSC) Standards For Aerodrome Bird/Wildlife Control that were produced in 2006 on behalf of the wider bird and wildlife strike community.
IBSC stated that “These best practice standards should apply to any aerodrome carrying regularly scheduled commercial air traffic, irrespective of the movement frequency or type of aircraft involved.”
Standard 1
A named member of the senior management team at the airport should be responsible for the implementation of the bird control programme, including both habitat management and active bird control.
Standard 2
An airport should undertake a review of the features on its property that attract hazardous birds/wildlife. The precise nature of the resource that the they are attracted to should be identified and a management plan developed to eliminate or reduce the quantity of that resource, or to deny birds access to it as far as is practicable.
Where necessary, support from a professional bird/wildlife strike prevention specialist should be sought.
Documentary evidence of this process, its implementation and outcomes should be kept.
Standard 3
A properly trained and equipped bird/wildlife controller should be present on the airfield for at least 15 minutes prior to any aircraft departure or arrival. Thus, if aircraft are landing or taking of at intervals of less than 15 minutes there should be a continuous presence on the airfield throughout daylight hours. The controller should not be required to undertake any duties other than bird control during this time. Note that for aerodromes with infrequent aircraft movements, 15 minutes may not be long enough to disperse all hazardous birds/wildlife from the vicinity of the runway. In this case the controller should be deployed sufficiently in advance of the aircraft movement to allow full dispersal to be achieved.
At night, active runways and taxiways should be checked for the presence of birds/wildlife at regular intervals and the dispersal action taken as needed.
Standard 4
Bird control staff should be equipped with bird deterrent devices appropriate to the bird species encountered, the numbers of birds present, and to the area that they need to control. Staff should have access to appropriate devices for removal of birds/wildlife, such as firearms or traps, or the means of calling on expert support to supply these techniques at short notice.
All staff should receive proper training in the use of bird control devices.
Standard 5
Airport bird/wildlife controllers should record the following at least every 30 minutes (if air traffic is sufficiently infrequent that bird patrols are more than 30 minutes apart, an entry should be made for each patrol carried out).
• areas of the airport patrolled,
• numbers, location and species of birds/wildlife seen,
• action taken to disperse the birds/wildlife,
• results of the action.
More general information such as the name of the bird controller on duty, time on and off duty, weather conditions etc should be recorded at the start of a duty period.
Standard 6
Bird/wildlife incidents should therefore be defined in 3 categories: Confirmed strikes:
• Any reported collision between a bird or other wildlife and an aircraft for
which evidence in the form of a carcass, remains or damage to the aircraft is found.
• Any bird/wildlife found dead on an airfield where there is no other obvious cause of death (e.g. struck by a car, flew into a window etc.).
Unconfirmed strikes:
• Any reported collision between a bird or other wildlife and an aircraft for which no physical evidence is found.
Serious incidents:
• Incidents where the presence of birds/wildlife on or around the airfield has any effect on a flight whether or not evidence of a strike can be found.
Standard 7
Airports should establish a mechanism to ensure that they are informed of all bird/wildlife strikes reported on or near their property.
The total number of birdstrikes should never be used as a measure of risk or of the performance of the bird control measures at an airport.
Airports should ensure that the identification of the species involved in birdstrikes is as complete as possible.
Airports should record all birdstrikes and include, as far as they are able, the data required for the standard ICAO reporting form
National Regulators should collate birdstrike data and submit this to ICAO
annually.
Standard 8
Airports should conduct a formal risk assessment of their birdstrike situation and use the results to help target their bird management measures and to monitor their effectiveness. Risk assessments should be updated at regular intervals, preferably annually.
Standard 9
Airports should conduct an inventory of bird attracting sites within the ICAO defined 13km bird circle, paying particular attention to sites close to the airfield and the approach and departure corridors. A basic risk assessment should be carried out to determine whether the movement patterns of birds/wildlife attracted to these sites means that they cause, or may cause, a risk to air traffic. If this is the case, options for bird management at the site(s) concerned should be developed and a more detailed risk assessment performed to determine if it is possible and/or cost effective to implement management processes at the site(s) concerned. This process should be repeated annually to identify new sites or changes in the risk levels produced by existing sites.
Where national laws permit, airports, or airport authorities, should seek to have an input into planning decisions and land use practices within the 13km bird circle for any development that may attract significant numbers of hazardous birds/wildlife. Such developments should be subjected to a similar risk assessment process as described above and changes sought, or the proposal opposed, if a significant increase in birdstrike risk is likely to result.