A model for assessing bird strike risk at proposed new airports

There are many criteria which need to be assessed when carrying out site selection for new airport developments. One of those which should be assessed is prospective bird hazard and bird strike risk – unfortunately, this is rarely considered as a factor. One reason for this may be the lack of available methodology for such work. This paper presents the methodology used during a recent hazard assessment for a proposed new airport for London. The methodology builds on previously described risk assessment techniques, which were developed for operational airports. It allows an assessment of the likelihood of bird strikes to be used to assign a risk rating for all potentially hazardous species which occur around the proposed site. Additionally, a numerical comparison was conducted to assess the risk against already operating major airports in the UK. This demonstrated that the risk at the proposed new airport would probably be greater than at any other airport already operating in the UK, even with a high quality and intensive bird management programme in place